Sixth round of Joint Area Reviews (JARs)

The sixth round of Joint Area Reviews (JARs) continues to reveal an encouraging number of positive references to the role of youth services. JARs examine how far children and young people in a local authority are achieving the Every Child Matters outcomes – ie are healthy, safe, enjoy and achieve, make a positive contribution and experience economic wellbeing. The cover all education and social services directly managed or commissioned by a local authority, as well as health and youth justice services provided by partner agencies.

Ten more reports have been published which show that youth services are contributing to all of the outcomes, particularly helping young people to make a positive contribution.

Youth services’ contribution to partnership work is more difficult to detect. However, scrutiny of accompanying youth service inspection reports reveals instances where youth services are involved in multi-agency work highlighted in the JARs. The report also indicates the difficulties of categorising work under single ECM outcomes, since similar activities are identified under different outcomes.

Being healthy

Youth services are making an increasingly positive contribution to this outcome. The report on Doncaster describes the youth service as being ‘strongly focused on promoting health’. The youth service manages Streetreach, a project that provides sex and relationship education to young people and in particular supports vulnerable young women. The youth service in Haringey promotes active lifestyles that are ‘sensitive to culture, gender and ability’. Many youth services are involved in multi-agency work with health services and other agencies. The partnership between youth services, community health, education and childcare in Brighton and Hove is described as ‘very good’. Rotherham youth service is involved in multi-agency work that promotes healthy living through a range of activities including sporting opportunities and active lunchtime schemes in schools. The youth service in North Somerset also works closely with health services to play ‘an active role in promoting healthy lifestyles, providing good resources on a range of topics, including smoking cessation, and drug and alcohol awareness’. The youth service has also been involved in the expansion of CAMHS, where youth workers provide support to young people on mental health issues. In Devon, healthy snacks are provided in youth work settings and the report describes schemes delivered by the youth service to promote awareness of substance misuse issues as ‘well received by young people’.

Staying safe

Unlike previous rounds, this round identifies the role of youth services in contributing to this outcome. The report on Devon states that ‘there are good safety standards in schools, early years and youth work settings’. In Doncaster the youth service ‘provides welcome safe havens for a number of vulnerable groups’, and is described as providing a good range of information to young people, parents and carers on key risks and how to deal with them, including road safety, sexual relationships and running away. Risky Business, a youth service partnership project in Rotherham, is cited as providing ‘good support’ to young people at risk of sexual exploitation, or who have been sexually exploited. The youth cabinet in Rotherham also raised concerns from young people about bullying which resulted in the council reviewing its anti-bullying strategy.

Enjoying and achieving

Youth services and youth workers continue to contribute to this outcome through the provision of informal learning. In Doncaster, the youth service ‘contributes well’ to play and learning provision provided as a result of partnership working between education and cultural services. The report on Rotherham states that ‘children and young people have access to a good range of enrichment and voluntary learning opportunities, particularly through extended services in schools and youth service activities’. In Devon, ‘many good opportunities, provided by the youth service, the voluntary sector and JATs, enable children and young people to participate in recreational activities’. Youth work programmes in Windsor and Maidenhead are described as having a ‘strong educational focus’ and the report notes that the youth service is ‘well targeted and provides a good range of voluntary learning opportunities for young people. Some of these carry accreditation and enable many young people to achieve high standards’. The youth service in North Somerset is described as providing a wide range of ‘effective’ activities to support the personal development of young people including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities and looked after children.

Making a positive contribution

As in all previous rounds this is an area where youth services and youth workers are seen to make a major contribution.

Local democracy

The report on Devon states that ‘the youth service enables many young people to play an active part in their community and to contribute to the direction and shape of activities’ and that many of the examples where children and young people have contributed to local project and service developments have been initiated by the youth service. It highlights the work of Devon Youth Association which runs a Participation in Action programme to empower disadvantaged groups, such as involving young mothers in reviewing local sexual health advisory services. Barnet is described as having ‘an active Youth Board’ that makes ‘a very sound contribution to the work of the CYPSP’.

The youth service in Doncaster provides a ‘good range of opportunities for children and young people to contribute to making decisions about services’. The report states that ‘a significant number of young people are involved with the youth service and take part in checks on the quality of the work of services’. In a survey for the Joint Area Review, just over half of young people considered themselves able to have a say in and influence how things happen in their local area. The report notes that their views have ‘influenced policy, plans and practice, strategically and at local level, most notably through the very effective youth council’. Examples include changes made to where young people can go to get advice on sexual health matters, and in the location of pedestrian crossings.

In Rotherham, the youth cabinet is described as ‘very active’ and has produced a ‘good, clear and coherent manifesto for change’. Young people are involved in projects ranging from raising awareness of racism to promoting fair trade and raising money for other countries experiencing poverty. The youth forum in Swindon is described as having made a ‘good start in bringing young people together across Swindon’. The report on North Somerset notes the youth service ‘provides effective support for young people’s participation in wider democratic processes’.

Personal development

In Doncaster, the youth service and other agencies provide ‘good support’ to help young people develop socially and emotionally and to establish positive relationships. The report on Windsor and Maidenhead notes that ‘the youth service in particular is successfully developing young people’s independence and emotional maturity’. The youth service in North Somerset is described as providing ‘good support to the social and emotional development of young people, including those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities. Young people’s achievements in sport, performing arts, music and video, and their social experiences, are promoted by the service’.

Volunteering

Two reports highlight young people’s involvement in voluntary activities. The report on Devon notes that ‘large numbers of young people are engaged in voluntary work’. Similarly, in Windsor and Maidenhead, young people are ‘encouraged and enabled to support the community through programmes such as millennium volunteers, the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme and a peer-led drugs education scheme, which trains young volunteers’.

Anti-social behaviour

In Barnet, ‘the youth offending team and the youth service work closely together in taking effective action to prevent offending and to reduce re-offending by children and young people’. The report also describes how detached youth workers are ‘effective at identifying drug and alcohol abuse and are inventive in their approach to developing initiatives and activities to engage disaffected young people’. In Peterborough, the youth service project Unity, is described as ‘innovative and inspiring’ and plays a major role in the ‘impressive and determined action’ by the council in addressing racial tensions between groups and neighbourhoods.

The report on Haringey describes the youth inclusion project, led by the youth service, as ‘well-targeted’ and ‘effective’ in dealing with most incidents of antisocial behaviour. Interventions by antisocial behaviour teams, including the youth inclusion project, have contributed to a reduction in antisocial behaviour, few ASBOs and few cases of re-offending. In Rotherham, the Positive Activities for Young People Programme, offered by the youth service, is described as ‘a good example of how young people are identified and targeted to engage in a range of diversionary activities’. In 2004/05, the programme provided activities for over 1,364 young people at risk. The youth service in Windsor and Maidenhead has ‘successfully targeted activities at young people at risk of antisocial behaviour, leading to more responsible behaviour by young people and greater engagement in looking after their local area’.

Supporting vulnerable young people

Rotherham youth service has made ‘very good efforts to ensure that vulnerable young people, particularly those with learning difficulties and/or disabilities are involved in citizenship programmes through the Millennium Volunteering scheme’. As a result of their increased confidence and self-esteem some of the young people have gone on to provide mentoring support to others. The report on Doncaster describes the youth service, along with the Youth Offending Team, as making a ‘particularly strong contribution’ to engage some of the most vulnerable young people in a broad range of programmes. Specialist provision for young people with disabilities is provided by the youth service in Windsor and Maidenhead, and the report also describes how a mobile youth project has worked successfully with young people, including some from the traveller community, in a rural area where facilities and access to transport are limited. Similarly, in North Somerset, the youth service provides a computer bus initiative targeted at isolated rural communities which the report describes as ‘much appreciated’ by young people.

Achieving economic wellbeing

As in previous rounds, youth services’ contribution to this outcome is most evident in helping to assist young people back into education, employment and training. In Peterborough, the Connexions Service works closely with the youth service to provide advice and guidance for 13-19 year olds in a range of settings including youth centres. The report on Windsor and Maidenhead also notes an effective partnership between the Connexions Service and the youth service in providing support to young people.

This round of JARs has also highlighted a prominent role for youth services in regeneration work. The report on Devon states that in Tavistock, ‘discussions with a local youth forum enabled young people to influence improvement plans for the area’. In Windsor and Maidenhead, the council has a strong programme to develop community cohesion, and the report highlights the role of the youth service in helping to improve relationships between young people and other members of the community.

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