Seventh round of Joint Area Reviews (JARs)

The seventh 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. They 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.

Eight reports have been published in this round, which show that youth services are contributing to most of the five outcomes, particularly helping young people to make a positive contribution.

While it is sometimes difficult to detect youth services’ contribution to partnership work, scrutiny of accompanying youth service inspection reports reveals instances where youth services are involved in multi-agency work highlighted in the JARs.

Being healthy

Two reports highlight youth services’ contribution to this outcome. In Wigan, the youth service is described as having ‘an active approach to promoting healthy lifestyles’. The youth service also works in collaboration with the Young Person’s Drug and Alcohol Team (YPDAT) to support young people around drug and alcohol issues. The report on Kingston upon Thames states that the youth service is ‘actively involved in promoting healthy lifestyles’ and provides ‘good programmes of personal, social and health education’. Two youth service projects are given specific mentions. A ‘good range of accredited physical activity’ is provided through an adventure club, established in response to feedback from young people. The school-based Motivations programme, run by the youth service, uses health and fitness activities to successfully support young people at risk of exclusion to attend and achieve.

Enjoying and achieving

Youth services and youth workers continue to contribute to this outcome through the provision of informal learning, particularly with vulnerable groups of young people. In Barnsley, youth clubs for young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities provide ‘particularly good opportunities for them to join in recreational activities’, such as a football club and Millennium Volunteers. The youth service in Buckinghamshire also provides a ‘very good range of informal learning opportunities for children and young people with learning difficulties and/or disabilities’. The report on Wigan highlights the Rafiki, Motswako and BYOU projects as providing good opportunities for targeted youth work with potentially socially excluded young people.

In Buckinghamshire the percentage of young people using the service is ‘well above average’. The report on Kingston upon Thames notes ‘good quality practice in youth work settings contributes strongly to good standards of achievement’, and the youth service enables ‘significant numbers of young people’ to gain accreditation from informal opportunities. In Sheffield ‘access to a wide range of enrichment, voluntary learning and youth work opportunities is very good’. The youth service in Wigan provides ‘good’ opportunities for young people to work towards recognised awards - around 220 young people achieved Duke of Edinburgh awards during the last year.

Making a positive contribution

This outcome is now established as the particular area where youth services are seen to make a major contribution.

Local democracy

The report on Barnsley states that ‘innovative practice’ led by the youth service and Barnsley Children’s Fund gives children and young people ‘excellent opportunities to participate in decision making and in supporting the community’. Examples of young people’s views influencing the development local facilities include access to sexual health clinics in youth clubs and better lighting in parks. The report also states that ‘good efforts are made to ensure that the views of vulnerable and hard to reach groups are considered through targeted youth summits, Speak Out events and project work’. Work by the ‘voice, influence and participation’ group in North Yorkshire, jointly funded by Connexions and the youth service, is described as providing ‘very good examples of participation’ across the county. This includes the involvement of young people in recruiting, developing websites and newsletters, and producing a youth entitlement document. The fourteen youth forums in Plymouth are described as making ‘good strides’ in carrying forward local issues regionally and nationally.

The report on Kingston upon Thames describes some good examples where young people have influenced the design of services and been involved in evaluating their quality, including carrying out a peer review of the youth service. Kingston youth council is described as being regularly consulted about strategic issues. The report states the youth council is also actively encouraging wider participation and is engaging with school councils and harder to reach groups including looked-after young people. Young people in Buckinghamshire are involved in the selection of youth workers, and were also involved in the selection of the council’s senior management team. The report describes the Youth Cabinet as ‘taking the representational role very seriously’, their views, for example, over a transport survey led to direct action by the council. Youth forums in Sheffield have also provided young people with the skills to enable them to influence service delivery and projects such as the design and planning of a skateboard park. The report on Wigan states that ‘the youth service is effectively brokering relationships between some Township Councils and young people to enable their views to be heard’. The youth service has also provided training to young people to help them participate effectively in town councils.

Personal development

The report on Kingston upon Thames states that ‘the youth service provides a range of activities which effectively contribute to the personal development of an above average proportion of the 13 to 19 population’. Young people are involved in the production of the Youth Unlimited magazine and the Young Livin website designed to encourage their participation. In North Yorkshire ‘very high’ numbers of young people are involved in youth work activities that build their confidence and social skills. The report on Plymouth notes that ‘the best youth service practice is having a positive impact on developing self-esteem and responsibility’, and highlights a project for lesbian and gay young people as an example. Wigan youth service is described as providing ‘many good opportunities for young people to develop positive relationships with adults and their peers’.

Volunteering

In Buckinghamshire, ‘a well established young leadership scheme provides a voluntary route for young people to help others in youth and community projects’. The report on Kingston upon Thames notes that the youth service provides ‘good opportunities for volunteering’, and highlights success in the Duke of Edinburgh award and the Millennium Volunteer scheme as effectively enhancing young people’s personal development. In Wigan, ‘young volunteers are involved successfully in the youth service and in facilities such as parks and playgrounds’.

Anti-social behaviour

In this round there are many examples of youth services being involved in multi-agency work to divert young people away from crime and anti-social behaviour. The report on Buckinghamshire highlights ‘an unusual and remarkable example of very prompt and effective multi-agency partnership work’, where youth workers were involved in work with local young people and their communities to help defuse tension and restore community cohesion after arrests in connection with alleged terrorist activity in High Wycombe. The youth service in Kingston upon Thames is described as collaborating closely with partners on ‘creative, preventative and diversionary projects which are having a positive impact’. The report on Plymouth notes that ‘the youth service worked successfully with police and a housing association to tackle racist anti-social behaviour in one area’. The youth service in Cumbria is also described as working successfully with the police, using contracts to engage young people involved in crime and anti-social behaviour. The report states that ‘these interventions are increasingly leading to improved outcomes for many young people involved’. Sheffield youth service is involved with other agencies in providing out of school and holiday activities on which ‘young people report positively and which help to promote social cohesion’. Barnsley youth service’s crime prevention initiative, New Route, is described as providing ‘highly effective support to enable young offenders to gain work-related qualifications and raise their self-esteem’.

Supporting vulnerable young people

The report on Cumbria found that examples of ‘particularly strong [youth] work were seen with some of the most vulnerable young people in the most deprived communities’. Wigan youth service is supporting young people from minority ethnic communities, refugees and asylum seekers to cope with new or difficult situations through the ‘successful’ Rafiki and Motswako projects. Young people in rural locations in North Yorkshire are described as having ‘good access to youth provision’ through a fleet of mobile youth units. The report on Kingston upon Thames notes that ‘young carers value the support they receive from the Kingston young carers’ network, youth service and Connexions personal advisors’.

Achieving economic wellbeing

As in previous rounds, the contribution youth services make to this outcome is most evident in helping to assist young people back into education, training and employment. The report on Kingston upon Thames states ‘very effective partnership working between the youth service, Connexions and schools contribute significantly to many vulnerable young people remaining in education’. Access points have also been provided in three youth centres offering information, advice and guidance to young people. In Buckinghamshire, ‘young people have good access to an extensive range of personal and welfare support through well planned and often innovative initiatives provided jointly through Connexions, the council’s youth service and the voluntary sector’. The youth service in Wigan, alongside other agencies, undertakes ‘highly focused and effective work’ providing advice and guidance to young people on education, employment and training opportunities.

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