Equality Impact Assessment
EQUALITY IMPACT ASSESSMENT
CHILDREN’S SERVICES
Name of the policy or function being assessed: Youth Participation
Directorate Children’s Services
Date Impact Assessment completed 5 March 2008
Is this a policy or function? Policy Function
Is this a new or existing policy or function? New Existing
Names and roles of the people carrying out the Impact Assessment:(Explain why the members of the impact assessment team were selected i.e. the knowledge and experience they bring to the process).
1. Dinar Hossain, Head of Youth and Community Services
(Lead officer for Youth and Community Services where the function is housed, has experience of completing Equalities Impact Assessments previously)
2. Akitunde Oladimeji, Management Information Services Officer
(Operational responsibility for collection of information about service users, including across four equalities strands)
3. Blossom Young, Children and Young People’s Involvement Manager
(Operational responsibility for young people’s participation and equality and diversity issues)
4. Kevin Munday, Service Development Manager
(Strategic responsibility for young people’s participation)
5. Paulette Campbell, Youth Participation Worker
(staff member within the Children and Young People’s Involvement Team, leads on development of some youth participation projects)
6. Zakaria Uddin, Youth Worker
(staff member within the Children and Young People’s Involvement Team, supports some youth participation projects)
7. Sara Caetano, Young Women’s Development Worker
(staff member within the Children and Young People’s Involvement Team, leads on developing work with young women within Youth and Community Services)
8. Yasin Abdi, Somali Youth Development Worker
(staff member within the Children and Young People’s Involvement Team, leads on developing work with Somali young people within Youth and Community Services)
Service Head / Mary Durkin
Signature
Date
SECTION 1
AIMS AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICY
Identifying the aims of the policy[1]
What is the policy?What is the aim, objective, or purpose of the policy?
This Equalities Impact Assessment focuses on the youth participation function carried out by the Children and Young People’s Involvement Team, based within Youth and Community Services.
The function aims to implement some key aspects of the recently revised Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy. A number of services play a key role in implementing the strategy, including Youth and Community Services.
This strategy aims to:
· provide a way for all children and young people in Tower Hamlets to have a voice, to be heard by key decision makers and get as involved as they want to in shaping what happens to them;
· provide a way of making sure that children and young people can check whether their voice is being acted upon or not;
· provide support to children, young people and adults to ensure that they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to participate; and
· ensure that the practitioners working with children and young people have the skills and knowledge to involve them effectively.
Throughout all of these aims we will work to ensure that all children and young people are actively included. This means reaching out to those frequently overlooked, such as those with communication difficulties and children and young people cared for outside of the borough.
Rationale behind the policy and its delivery
(Please state the underlying policy objectives which underpin this service and what they are trying to achieve).Are there associated objectives of the policy? If so, what are they?
What outcomes do we want to achieve from this policy?
What factors could contribute/detract from the outcomes?
The function carries out actions in relation to the Community Plan, Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan, Youth and Community Services Plan and Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy. The objectives in the strategy are named as key activities in the Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan.
The main objectives outlined in the Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy are to ensure:
· All children and young people from an early age are educated about their rights, society and how to get involved in decision-making, to enable them to develop as active citizens;
· All children and young people can have influence at a range of levels, with influence over decisions about their personal lives and learning, their services, their communities, the borough and beyond;
· All services working with children and young people involve them in the design, delivery and evaluation of those services;
· Opportunities for children and young people are provided, to develop as leaders and to take responsibility;
· Children and young people can take an active role in commissioning;
· Children and young people are able to give feedback on the services they use;
· There are effective mechanisms for communicating with children and young people, so that they are aware of the opportunities available to them to get involved; and
· We will monitor services effectively to measure the quality of children and young people’s involvement and the results of involvement.
We are developing an implementation plan on an annual basis to outlining how we will achieve these objectives.
Who is affected by the policy? Who is intended to benefit from it and how?
Who are the main stakeholders in relation to this policy?
What outcomes would other stakeholders want from this policy?
Are there any groups, which might be expected to benefit from the intended outcomes
but which do not?
The key stakeholders in relation to the function are key decision-makers and services wishing to consult with young people, professionals working with children and young people and children, young people and families.
Stakeholders have different needs and wants in relation to the function. Services, both statutory and voluntary, may wish to have qualitative and quantative data in relation to children and young people’s views to inform planning or key decisions. Professionals working with children and young people sometimes feel ill equipped with knowledge, skills and methods to actively involve children and young people in service design, delivery and evaluation. Children and young people may want to become more involved in shaping services, have a say in key decisions taking place and a platform for their views to be heard, and to develop skills and knowledge about different aspects of life in the borough. Part of the team’s function is to broker links between young people and services to ensure these needs can be better met.
Promotion of good relations between different communities
(How does the policy or function contribute to better Community Cohesion?)How do you promote good relations between different communities you serve based on mutual understanding and respect?
What opportunities are there for positive cross cultural contact between these communities to take place e.g. between younger and older people, or between people of different religious faiths?
The youth participation function contributes to community cohesion in a number of ways and many of our projects are designed to bring young people from different communities (including communities of interest as well as geographical communities) together to explore common issues. Examples of recent projects which have specifically contributed to community cohesion include:
· EQ&A session – during Local Democracy Week 2007 we carried out a virtual question and answer session between young people in eight youth centres and a panel of Councillors about issues affecting young people. The eight centres were in different LAP areas and the event ensured that young people from different communities (including across geographical areas, ethnic communities and young people of different genders) could talk together using webcams, where if the event was physically located in one place they may have been more reluctant to take part; and
· A Slice of Youth – a film-making project undertaken by young people in LAPs 3 and 4 from October 2007 – March 2008. Although the young people consistently taking part in the project were of a single ethnicity, as part of their research they carried out surveys with other young people of different ethnicities in schools, visited other youth centres in other areas of the borough and interviewed local residents and local businesses.
We are currently consulting with young people and LAP steering groups about the priorities for local projects over 2008-2009. Addressing conflict between different groups of young people and relationships between older and younger people have already been identified as two key issues young people want to explore over the next year.
(Specifically identify the relevance of the aims of the policy to the equality target groups and the Council’s duty to eliminate unlawful racial discrimination, promote equality of opportunity and good relations between people of different racial groups).
The Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy aims to secure the active involvement of all children and young people in the borough. Throughout, we have identified the need to uphold the Council’s commitment to equality and diversity, comply with relevant legislation and specifically include those who are frequently overlooked such as those with communication difficulties and children and young people cared for outside of the borough.
Youth and Community Services has recently developed an Equality and Diversity policy and associated action plan, so all programmes delivered through the youth participation function are in line with this policy and aim to deliver objectives within the action plan.
Policy Priorities:
(How does the policy fit in with the council’s wider aims? Include Corporate and Local Strategic Partnership Priorities)
How does the policy relate to other policies and practices within the council?
What factors/forces could contribute/detract from the outcomes?
How do these outcomes meet or hinder other policies, values or objectives of the council?
The function carries out actions in relation to the Community Plan, Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan, Youth and Community Services Plan and Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy.
The objectives in the strategy are named as key activities in the Children and Young People’s Strategic Plan, under the Making a Positive Contribution objective “Increase the participation of children & young people in decision making and community life”.
The function also contributes to other objectives within this area, in particular:
1. Promote & support community safety and cohesion among children & young people
2. Extend engagement in constructive & law abiding activities
3. Provide high quality places to go & things to do that meet the needs of young people
The function also makes some contribution to the following PSA priorities:
Increased participation and resilience
• Indicator 1: Reduce the percentage of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment or training (NEET)
• Indicator 2: More Participation in Positive Activities
Tackling negative outcomes
• Indicator 3: Reduce the proportion of young people frequently using illicit drugs, alcohol or volatile substances
In recent years there has been a drive from national government to ensure the active involvement of children and young people in shaping their services. This is explicitly outlined in a range of government policy including Every Child Matters, Youth Matters and Aiming High, the 10 year strategy for young people. The strategy is in line with these policies and aims to implement this locally.
How the policy is implemented
(How is, or will, the policy be put into practice and who is, or will be, responsible for it?)Who defines or defined the policy?
Who implements the policy?
How does the council interface with other bodies in relation to the implementation of this policy?
Is the service provided solely by the Department or in conjunction with another department, agency or contractor?
If external parties are involved then what are the measures in place to ensure that they comply with the Council’s Equal Opportunities policy?
The function is defined from the Children and Young People’s Participation Strategy, which builds on the Youth Participation Strategy developed in 2004 and owned by the Tower Hamlets Partnership and therefore across a range of agencies other than the Council.
A range of agencies are involved in delivery of the function, including other Council departments, voluntary and community sector organisations, schools and registered social landlords. Those outside the Council are contracted as youth work provider organisations and are obliged to comply with the Council’s Equal Opportunities Policy as part of their contract or to have their own which meets the requirements set out in the Council policy.
· Specific projects undertaken to ensure young people’s involvement in decision-making and the design, delivery and evaluation of services are listed as an appendix at the end of this document.
SECTION 2
CONSIDERATION OF DATA AND RESEARCH
List all examples of quantitative and qualitative data available that will enable the impact assessment to be undertaken (include information where appropriate from other directorates, Census 2001 etc.)- Census 2001 / Office of National Statistics information
- Youth and Community Services EYS information April 2007 – January 2008. EYS is the Youth and Community Services management information system and collates a range of data about service users, including schools data and some equalities information
- Young Foundation report – ‘Engaging Young People in an East London borough’
The Young Foundation recently carried out a review of young people’s involvement in Tower Hamlets, ‘Engaging young people in an East London Borough’. The full report and our actions identified as a result are appended at the end of this document. They highlight the following recommendations with regard to equality and diversity:
i. In the course of this piece of work we deliberately asked how well it was felt the Council was linked to various communities. It was acknowledged that there were still communities where contact was very limited, and in particular some of the numerically smaller groupings of more recent arrivals were still outside contact. However it was commonly felt that contacts with young people in the Bangladeshi community were well established. We were given a counter-argument to this however, and the point was made that if the young person is from a family that is of standing in the community and family members are already involved in public life, then they find it much easier to become involved. However, we were told, if you are not in that section of the community, then your voice is no louder than a young person from any other background. The interesting point was also made that as more young people of Bangladeshi origin move into higher education and hence away from the more traditional occupations of retail, catering and the garment industry, then interests, points of view and political affiliations start to diverge widely, in much the same way that previous immigrant communities experienced.