Policy paper

Positive for Youth: the statement

Published 1 February 2010

This was published under the 2005 to 2010 Labour government

The statement brings together for the first time all of the government’s policies for young people aged 13 to 19. It therefore covers a wide range of issues – from education and youth services, to health, crime, housing and more. Nine government departments have been involved in developing it – including the Department for Education, the Department of Health, the Home Office and the Department for Communities and local government.

Young people and youth professionals have also been involved directly in developing the statement through extensive collaboration and consultation.

Building on the best local practice, Positive for Youth sets out a shared vision for how all parts of society can work together in partnership to support families and improve the lives of young people, particularly those who are most disadvantaged or vulnerable. It also includes a large number of case studies to exemplify the approaches it promotes.

1. Positive for Youth: the vision

Positive for Youth is a new approach to cross-government policy for young people aged 13 to 19 in England. It brings together all of the government’s policies for this age group, presenting a single vision across the interests of nine departments.

It has been produced with young people and youth professionals through extensive collaboration and consultation.

Positive for Youth sets out a shared vision for how all parts of society – including councils, schools, charities, businesses – can work together in partnership to support families and improve outcomes for young people, particularly those who are most disadvantaged or vulnerable.

This means working towards a common goal of young people having a strong sense of belonging, and the supportive relationships, strong ambitions, and good opportunities they need to realise their potential.

The government is passionate about creating a society that is positive for youth. Young people matter. They are important to us now, and to our future, and we need them to flourish.

1.1 Monitoring progress

Young people must be in the driving seat to inform decisions, shape provision, and inspect quality.

The government will work with young people and those who fund and deliver services for them to review progress, in realising the Positive for Youth vision and in improving outcomes for young people.

Councils are accountable primarily to local people for how well young people do, and how well their services support them.

Progress will focus wherever possible on measures of the positive effects on young people’s lives achieved rather than negative outcomes prevented.

The government will publish annually national measures of young people’s positive outcomes. At the end of 2012 will carry out and publish an audit of overall progress towards creating a society which is more positive for youth.

A new Youth Action group will bring together government ministers, from nine departments, with key voluntary sector leaders to discuss the needs of disadvantaged young people.

2. Positive for Youth: roles

We all have a role to play.

Government cannot create a society that is positive for youth on its own. Real progress depends on everyone playing their part:

• Young people – taking responsibility, making the most of every opportunity available, and speaking up on issues they care about.
• Parents, carers and families – having the primary responsibility and influence to nurture young people through to adulthood.
• Other adults – taking an interest in the lives of their young people and be positive role models.
• The media – taking responsibility for the impact of the images of young people they promote.
• Businesses – building partnerships through which to give time, expertise and money, to projects to support young people.
• Teachers – helping young people aspire and attain, and working in partnership with other services to address early any barriers they face.
• Youth workers – supporting young people’s personal and social development and helping them develop strong aspirations.
• Other professionals – providing specialist early help to young people to address issues and stop them escalating and causing harm.
• Local authorities – having the primary responsibility for improving young people’s outcomes and commissioning appropriate services.
• Other commissioners – having a responsibility for specific outcomes such as crime and health outcomes for young people.
• Government – promoting new ways of working, facilitating reform, and monitoring overall progress.

3. Positive for Youth: context

3.1 The teenage years

The teenage years are a critical period of growth and change. They are an important time for making significant life choices and decisions. Young people need to try new things, take on responsibility, and be allowed to learn from their failures and mistakes.

Adolescence brings significant physical and emotional changes and teenagers naturally grow in independence. This can lead to changes in the nature of the relationship between young people and their parents or carers, often making it more difficult. These difficulties are for the most part the normal pressures of growing up and do not lead to detrimental outcomes for young people involved.

Most young people make the transition successfully to adulthood through a combination of supportive families; good schools, colleges and training providers; access to opportunities for personal and social development outside the classroom; and the vision and belief that they can succeed.

3.2 The future for young people

While most young people are doing well and are enjoying life, there is no room to be complacent.

The current global economic situation has created concern among many of today’s teenagers about their future – particularly their future employment prospects.

Many young people are also concerned about local services as councils face difficult decisions, and charities struggle to sustain provision. Disadvantaged and vulnerable young people, including those in care, those with disabilities, and those struggling in education can be at risk of poor outcomes. They need additional and early help to overcome the challenges they face.

A very small minority of young people feel no sense of belonging and as a result do not respect the communities in which they live. The vast majority, however, do make a positive contribution and feel misrepresented and undermined by negative images of, and attitudes towards, young people.

We need to work together to create a society that is more positive for youth.

4. Positive for Youth: key commitments

The government is taking a wide range of actions that will help to deliver the Positive for Youth vision.

The key commitments include:

• Empowering young people by enabling them to inspect and report on local youth services and to help ‘youth proof’ government policy
• Funding national helpline and website services to support and provide advice to parents of teenagers, and a programme to support the most troubled families
• Funding improved brokerage between businesses and projects for young people
• Completing the programme of 63 Myplace youth centres to act as hubs for a wide range of services in disadvantaged areas. Also developing a national approach to exploiting the potential of these centres to be hubs for transforming local services led by communities and local businesses
• Piloting the National Citizen Service - bringing together 16-year-olds from all backgrounds for a demanding personal and social development experience and opportunity for social action in their communities
• Directly funding 18 voluntary-sector programmes at a national level which aim to transform the lives of young people to generate lessons for the future;
• Funding a small number of youth innovation zones to test radical new system-wide approaches to involving all local partners in supporting young people
• Publishing annually a new set of national measures to demonstrate progress in improving outcomes for young people.

5. Positive for Youth: promoting youth voice

The government is providing funding of £850,000 to the British Youth Council in 2011-2013 to:

• set up a new national scrutiny group of representative young people to advise Ministers across government on how policies affect young people and their families;
• advise councils and others on how to involve young people in decision making and auditing services;
• make sure there are young people able to represent youth voice in the national media;
• sustain the UK Youth Parliament and support its influence.

There are many ways to involve young people locally. The government urges relevant bodies in every area to involve young people in making decisions about council, health, transport, and other relevant services. It wants to see every area having arrangements for young people to audit the quality of these services.

In addition, each local authority area will soon have a new organisation called Local Healthwatch to make sure that young people will have a voice in shaping local health services.

Young people have energy, enthusiasm, and valuable ideas for shaping and improving the world around them. Yet young people generally get a bad press.

Young people have a right to have their views taken into account in all decisions that affect their lives. We must give them a stronger voice and celebrate their positive contribution and achievements. We must also encourage and support them to speak up when they see media reporting that they believe is unbalanced or unfair.

6. Positive for Youth: helping young people succeed

6.1 In learning

Raising young people’s aspirations and driving up participation and attainment in learning is the best way to help young people realise their potential and get ready for work.

The government has already introduced significant reforms to education to drive up standards – including further empowering teachers, reviewing the curriculum, and providing additional funding for the most disadvantaged pupils.

It is raising the age to which young people must participate in education or training to 17 in 2013 and 18 in 2015 to help prepare them for adult life and employment.

It has also recently announced a Youth Contract to address youth unemployment and published a new strategy for supporting young people aged 16 to 24 to participate in learning and work.

6.2 Outside the classroom

Positive for Youth reflects the fact that young people’s experiences outside the classroom at home and in their community are also crucial in helping them form and pursue their ambitions. Building on the best of local practice, it sets out the principles of a good local system of support for young people.

6.3 Healthy lives

The government’s health reforms offer exciting potential to improve young people’s health and wellbeing by developing more coordinated and preventative approaches, involving young people in shaping local services, and making it as easy as possible for them to get early advice.

7. Positive for Youth: putting families first

In addition to significant support for families in the early years, the government continues to support families of teenagers through:

• a range of free online and telephone advice services;
• funding to councils that can be used to support parents;
• a specific programme to turn around the lives of the 120,000 most troubled families by the end of this Parliament.

Parents, carers and families have the primary responsibility and influence to nurture young people through to adulthood.

Nearly all parents find parenting teenagers difficult at times. They need to feel society and public authorities support their efforts to take responsibility for their teenage children, transmit positive values to them, and set appropriate boundaries.

Parents need to know where to go for advice and help if they are worried or having problems.

Services for young people need to support families while respecting and nurturing young people’s growing sense of independence and personal responsibility.

Many charities, faith groups and other voluntary and community organisations play a significant role in supporting families, for example through parenting classes.

8. Positive for Youth: strengthening communities

Strong communities which take responsibility for their young people will help them to feel a strong sense of belonging.

The government is:

• reducing unnecessary burdens related to vetting and checking adults who come forward to volunteer to work with young people;
• providing funding to ensure around 5,000 community organisers are trained over the lifetime of this Parliament to act as a catalyst for more community-led social action.

All young people benefit from relationships with adults they trust. Youth work has a key role to play in supporting young people and strengthening their relationship with their communities. Many young people can also be inspired particularly by adults from the world of work. We can be proud of the uniformed organisations, faith groups, and other charities and community and voluntary organisations that already make a huge difference in the lives of many young people and their communities. They are responsible for a significant proportion of the youth work and other activities and services available to young people. Many of these have particular expertise in helping disadvantaged young people to do well.

9. Positive for Youth: the role of the voluntary sector

9.1 Innovation and growth

Voluntary and community organisations can be particularly adept at reaching young people who are reluctant to engage with statutory agencies. The financial climate means that many are, however, having to work hard and develop innovative approaches to maintain their activities and services for young people.

The government wants to see innovative and enterprising voluntary and community organisations. This means them demonstrating what difference they make for young people and attracting income from a wider range of sources so that they are less dependent on state funding.

The government:

• has given community groups the right to bid to take over the running of local council services through the Localism Act;
• is helping young people’s services to find ways of measuring what difference they make. To support this, they are funding the Centre for the Analysis of Youth Transitions to develop standards for evidence and Catalyst to develop an outcomes framework;
• is making it easier for charities to get access to the capital they need to grow by helping them understand and access social investment. This includes specific high-level objectives for the Big Society Bank to support the development of community-led social enterprise initiatives which improve opportunities for young people.

9.2 Support from business

Businesses and other employers are key members of the community. Like many in the charity sector, an increasing number of them understand the benefits to them and their employees of developing partnerships at the corporate level to support young people – who may be their current or future customers or employees.

The government will provide funding of £320,000 - over the period to March 2013 - to a consortium led by Business in the Community to broker the engagement of more businesses with charities to support work with young people.

9.3 Other funding

To identify new ways of helping disadvantaged young people to succeed, 18 voluntary organisations are benefiting from a share of £31.4m from the Department for Education over the two years 2011-13. They are pioneering and evaluating innovative approaches to early help, such as targeted support to help young people to stay and succeed in learning who would otherwise drop out of school, college or training.

In addition, alongside providers in the private and social enterprise sector, voluntary and community sector organisations will also have a key role in delivering new intensive support to engage some of the most vulnerable 16 to 17-year-olds in education and training. This follows the recent announcement of a new performance-based scheme - worth £126m in England over the next three years - as part of the Youth Contract.

10. Positive for Youth: the role of services for young people

Some young people don’t get the support or opportunities they need through their families or communities. Youth workers and other services for young people have an important role to play in:

• supporting young people’s personal and social development – for example, developing important skills and qualities needed for life, learning, and work
• making sure all young people are able to participate and achieve in education or training
• raising young people’s aspirations, with the aim of reducing teenage pregnancy, substance misuse and crime

The government will retain the duty on councils to support young people by giving them access to activities and services. This will include asking young people for their views and taking them into account.

It will consult shortly on new much shorter and clearer statutory guidance.

In addition to activities and services funded by councils, the government is investing directly to improve services and opportunities for young people.

• By March 2013 there will be 63 state-of-the-art Myplace youth centres in disadvantaged areas - they will act as hubs for a wide range of activities and services for young people.
• The government will help centre leaders to promote the network nationally, share effective practice, and build local business and community ownership.
• A wide range of organisations are being funded to develop and test the National Citizen Service - the aim over time is to offer every 16-year-old the opportunity to mix and learn from peers from different backgrounds in a challenging programme of character-building activities and to create a legacy of social action in their communities.

Over 8,000 young people took part in 2011, and up to 30,000 more will take part in 2012 - with the aim of expanding to 90,000 young people in 2014 - making it one of the largest personal and social development programmes for young people in the world.

The government is seeking to provide more young people with personal development opportunities by exploring opportunities to expand the MOD-sponsored cadet forces.

11. Positive for Youth: stronger local partnerships

The Positive for Youth vision relies on all sections of society working together in stronger partnership to help more young people to feel a strong sense of belonging and to realise their potential.

Councils have a key strategic role, but they cannot realise the vision on their own.

They will need to work with young people, families, and communities, and with local partners such as charities, schools, health services, and the police to assess needs and co-ordinate local resources. Health and well-being boards also potentially offer the opportunity for them to do so.

The country’s financial situation creates significant pressures. Working together to integrate services, reduce duplication, and share resources, is a better approach than simply cutting existing services to fit reduced budgets.

The Department for Education is providing funding of £780,000 in 2011-13 to the Local Government Association to make sure that local authority commissioners get the support they need to improve local services for young people.

This will include access to the lessons from a number of pioneering ‘youth innovation zones’, and support to reform how services are delivered locally – including increasing the role of charities and other organisations. The first four youth innovation zones are Hammersmith and Fulham, Haringey, Knowsley, and a consortium led by Devon.

Local people are best able to make decisions about local services in response to local needs. The government won’t tell them what services to deliver or how to deliver them. However, it will not hesitate to intervene against any well-founded concerns about long-standing failure to improve services for young people and their lives.