HERTFORDSHIRE COUNTY COUNCIL
YOUTH CONNEXIONS HERTFORDSHIRE TOPIC GROUP
FRIDAY 13 MAY 2011 AT 10.00AM
Author: Simon Gentry, Business Manager
Lead Officer: Andrew Simmons, Deputy Director, Services for Young People
1. Purpose of Report
1.1 To provide Members of the topic group with an update on the progress of the Youth Connexions Service at the close of its initial Development Plan. As discussed at the 18 month scrutiny review topic group, the service was created following a merger of the Hertfordshire County Council Youth Service and Connexions Hertfordshire on 1 April 2008. This report highlights the progress that has been made since the initial scrutiny review that was completed in February 2010:
o how the service has continued to develop its service, with local and national partners, to broaden the access to opportunities and improve outcomes for young people;
o further progress which has been achieved in the since February 2010, including examples of the activities that are organised and provided; and
o how the transformation of Children’s Services has impacted upon Youth Connexions.
2. Developing the Youth Offer
2.1 The Youth Offer
The four elements of the Youth Offer are closely linked and can be difficult to differentiate.
2.1.1 Positive Activities / Youth Work
Within Section 507B (2008) of the Education Act, Positive Activities are described as taking place in young people’s leisure time, being recreational or educational and leading to the improvement of their well being. Youth Connexions has continued to provide Youth Work and Positive Activities within an informal education curriculum. There has been a greater emphasis on the delivery of activities on Friday and Saturday nights (in line with national and local priorities) and the participation of young people from disadvantaged groups. The number of young people with whom the service is in contact rose to over 25,000 in 2010-11. The number of participants and the associated outcome rates have risen significantly over the last three years.
A priority for Youth Connexions has been to utilise the expertise of the voluntary and community sectors and District Councils in providing ‘places to go and things to do.’ The partnership working arrangements with the main ‘youth’ voluntary and community umbrella organisation, Pro-Action, to enhance, develop and support the activity of the sector’s work with young people, has continued to grow.
Furthermore the service has continued to invest in the facilities at the Outdoor Education Centres at the Hertfordshire Young Mariner’s Base (HYMB), Hudnall Park and Cuffley Camp. Although these centres are primarily used by schools during the summer period; Youth Connexions has been working with partners to develop these facilities so that they can be used all year round for the informal learning of young people aged 13-19.
2.1.2 Targeted Youth Support.
For young people facing more complex challenges, the service provides preventative support for young people before issues become acute. Youth Connexions has continued to focus more on groups of young people with higher levels of needs. However the term ‘targeted youth support’ is now used define work with young people who are at risk of requiring social care involvement or who require supervision within the youth justice framework.
Examples of work which continues to be delivered using the Youth Connexions brand include:
Ø teams targeted to work with young people in the traveller community, care leavers, young people with learning difficulties and / or disabilities and young offenders;
Ø using sport and music as diversionary activities;
Ø running groups and networks for young mothers and mothers to be;
Ø involving young people from vulnerable groups in service developments and elements of service governance;
Ø outreach work in deprived communities;
Ø working with groups of young people and individuals to help prevent and combat substance misuse issues and concerns.
2.1.3 Information Advice and Guidance
Youth Connexions provides impartial information, advice and guidance (IAG) in a range of formats to help young people make effective decisions. IAG is delivered both directly through YCH staff working from a variety of locations, and by providing training and support to other professionals working with young people.
All mainstream and special schools, education support centres and colleges are allocated time from trained Personal Advisers to provide young people with impartial IAG and support to overcome barriers to learning or work. In the future schools will be able to purchase activities in addition to their free core offer.
Young people who are not in education, employment or training, post-16 (NEET) receive specialist, intensive support to access further learning or work. One-to-one help has continued to be offered to enable them to overcome difficult circumstances, to improve personal and employability skills and to find suitable jobs and courses. As a result the NEET rate at the end of March 2011 was lower than it has been at the end of March in previous years. In relation to this, the in-learning rate has also improved on previous years’ performance.
The September Guarantee in Hertfordshire has been met for four consecutive years. Youth Connexions continues to work with education and training providers to help young people find appropriate training provision and jobs with training, particularly apprenticeships.
2.1.4 Volunteering and making a positive contribution
The service has worked to expand the opportunities available to young people so that they can contribute on a voluntary basis to making their communities better places. This has taken place by working with key youth volunteering agencies. 30 voluntary opportunities for young people were established within Children, Schools and Families using Vinvolved funding, and the service has cooperated in national events to promote volunteering opportunities for young people. This has fitted well with the Youth Connexions’ ethos of involving young people in its planning and delivery of services. The service has successfully bid to become a pilot for the Government’s National Citizenship Service.
3. The impact of Children and Young People’s Services Transformation
3.1 Background and context of Services for Young People
The CSF Services for Young People portfolio was established in January 2011, bringing together a number of strategies and services for the first time, including the integrated youth support service. The work of the portfolio spans universal, targeted and specialist service provision, including support to young people who have left care, young people on the edge of care and young people beyond parental control due to family breakdown.
The new Services for Young People grouping has as one of its key objectives to prepare young people in making a successful transition to adult and working life. It has been developed within the context of the corporate transformation programme in which services have been required to achieve significant financial savings; the aim will be to make more effective use of resources.
In order to achieve the overarching objective, the new service aims to deliver the following outcomes for young people:
· The local authorities statutory responsibilities continue to be met and risks to young people are mitigated
· There are fewer referrals to specialist services
· Reduction in offending and re-offending
· Young people stay and progress in learning until age 18, minimising the numbers that are NEET
· Young people can access the appropriate advice, guidance and support to enable them to make the right learning and job choices
· Vulnerable young people aged 13 -19 years (25 years for some groups such as care leavers and young people with learning difficulties) receive targeted support to enable them to reach their potential
· Young people develop personal and social skills through a range of youth work / positive activity opportunities
· Young people are more resilient
3.2 The priorities of the new service include:
3.2.1 Youth Work / Positive Activities
Despite a significant increase in provision over the past two years, access to youth activities remains a top priority for Hertfordshire Citizens. It now is a developing focus on involving local people in youth provision in their community, including measures to increase the number of people volunteering, in line with the Big Society ambition to engage people in their local neighbourhoods and to support young people’s transition into adulthood.
3.2.2 Engagement in education, employment or training
The new service will continue to provide a free core universal offer of careers education, information, advice and guidance to schools and will identify new, capacity building approaches to supporting schools and young people.
3.3 Services for Young People Management and Support Framework
The model adopted has led to the development of an integrated, geographically based management model with five senior managers taking responsibility for service delivery across paired districts in addition to a policy lead area and a wholly integrated central team. In addition there is a team in place to coordinate the county’s 14-19 learning provision and a team that provides specialist support for young people with learning difficulties and / or disabilities. The UK Resilience Programme Manager has been included in the delivery structure.
Service delivery is planned and managed in paired districts led by a team manager and delivery teams for universal services (youth work, positive activities, information, advice and guidance and helping young people find appropriate learning or work) and a team manager and delivery team for targeted support for vulnerable young people, including the delivery of Youth Justice Services.
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110511 Youth Connexions Hertfordshire Topic Group
Item 3(c) – Backgdround Report