The National Youth Agency - Youth Issues News

Youth Issues News

Each weekday The NYA monitors the national press, government press releases, Hansard, parliamentary websites and specialist publications for news and information about young people and youth policy.

This intelligence feeds the work of the Policy, Information and Research team. National press scanned include the Daily Telegraph, Guardian, Times, Independent, Times Educational Supplement, and Voice. Comments and feedback welcome - email: Jo Poultney

2009
2008
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'Harass a hoodie' – Essex police take surveillance to the streets: 30 May 2008The Guardian reports on a day spent with Essex police accompanying forward intelligence teams (FITs) as part of a Operation Leopard, a surveillance operation designed to combat anti-social behaviour.

Police seize scores of knives in a search of 4,000 suspects: 30 May 2008More than 4000 people have been stopped and searched in London in the past two weeks as part of Operation Blunt 2, The Met's latest attempt to address public concern over young people carrying knives.

Do the facts and figure behind knife crime justify the public's fears?: 30 May 2008Comment piece looking at the latest facts and issues behind knife crime and what action is being taken by the Government to tackle it.

Children in care to get personal tutors, homework support and theatre trips: 29 May 2008The government has published guidance to help local authorities organise personal tutors, homework support and educational trips to the theatre for children in care, backed with £56 million of funding.

'Find Your Talent' scheme moves a step closer with ten pilot areas named: 29 May 2008The government has announced ten areas around the country to pilot the Find your Talent programme to give young people the chance to encounter a range of cultural experiences for five hours a week both in and outside of school.

A punitive crackdown will never fix this knife crisis: 29 May 2008Comment piece on knife crime among young people which claims there is an urgent need to reclaim public space for young people, but warns of the dangers of recent measures to crack down on the problem, including stop and search.

Home Office enlists young people for £3m anti-knife adverts: 29 May 2008An advertising campaign devised by young people to warn others of the consequences of knife crime is to be launched by the Home Office today.

v recruits its new youth advisory board: 29 May 2008v, the youth volunteering organisation, has recruited its new youth advisory board, v20.

MPA empowers young people in the fight against crime: 28 May 2008The Metropolitan Police Authority's youth scrutiny report will be presented to the full Authority at its May meeting on 29 May 2008.

Sex education 'should teach about infertility': 28 May 2008The Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority has said that children and young people should be taught about infertility as well as about avoiding pregnancy.

Teachers' manifesto to end gang culture: 28 May 2008The National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) has drawn up plans for tackling gang culture in and around schools.

'People just saw us as asbo kids': 28 May 2008Case study of a successful project on a housing estate in a Gloucestershire village.

'I've got kids who sleep with knives under their pillows': 27 May 2008Interview with Camila Batmanghelidjh, founder of youth charity Kids Company, which works with children and young people on the edge of society.

Just the jab: 27 May 2008A new vaccination programme to prevent cervical cancer is being launched through primary health care trusts this September, and virtually all of them are focusing it through schools.

Exercise does not make obese children slimmer, says study: 27 May 2008Encouraging overweight children to exercise has no impact on weight loss and they should be encouraged instead to eat more healthily, according to research presented at the European Congress on Obesity.

Young people's views on play being sought: 23 May 2008The views of young people on outdoor play are being sought by a new government consultation.

Home Office outlines plans to help police tackle violent crime: 23 May 2008A government press release giving more details about the Home Office's plans to help police tackle violent crime and the intimidation of communities, as announced in the press yesterday.

Rise in alcohol-related hospital admissions for young people: 23 May 2008An increasing number of young people - 39% in 2001 to 45% in 2006 - claim never to have tried an alcoholic drink, according to a study by the Office for National Statistics.

Schools told to take action on gangs: 22 May 2008At a Home Office event on tackling gang crime today, children's minister Beverley Hughes, is to launch guidance for headteachers to help schools response to the problem of young people being involved in gangs in their locality.

Police to get new powers to tackle gangs: 22 May 2008Home secretary, Jacqui Smith is expected to outline ways to help police tackle violent gangs and their intimidation of communities.

Third sector funding to improve race equality and cohesion: 22 May 2008The government has announcement the successful recipients of the third round of the Connecting Communities Plus Community Grants.

Design your own playground: 21 May 2008Ministers have launched an interactive website and poster campaign to encourage children and young people to give their views on play and play areas as part of a national consultation on children's play.

Strategy for modernising alternative provision for young people: 21 May 2008The government has published a White Paper which aims to overhaul educaton for disengaged young people.

Young people do know what's good for them: 21 May 2008Writing in response to a Guardian article opposing the idea of youth councils, a young member of the youth council in Camden argues that youth councils can be trusted to make informed decisions and spend money wisely.

British Youth Council launches new website: 21 May 2008Launched today the new BYC website offers a range of new features, including videos, message walls and an online map of all local youth councils in the UK.

One in five 11-year-olds fail on three Rs: 20 May 2008Ofsted has warned that school standards have stalled, with as many as 20 per cent of 11-year-olds leaving primary school unable to read, write and add up properly.

Why young men carry knives: 20 May 2008Young men from different backgrounds talk frankly about what compels them to carry knives and why they are increasingly prepared to use them.

Young mothers go back to education and take their babies with them: 20 May 2008Article describes the Karenza project, based at Camborne College in Cornwall, which offers young mothers aged over 14 the opportunity to study a range of further education courses while their child is being looked after by professionals just along the corridor.

Firms may educate excluded pupils: 20 May 2008A government White Paper focusing on improving education standards for pupils removed from mainstream classes is expected to include proposals such as the opening up of services for disruptive and excluded pupils - with charities, private firms and community groups invited to offer alternatives.

Overwhelming majority of young people want to get married: 20 May 2008A new Civitas/Ipsos Mori survey of 1,560 young people reveals that the overwhelming majority want to get married.

Commerce in schools put under spotlight: 19 May 2008The inquiry commissioned by the government into the impact of the commercial world on children is to investigate the government's own policies of encouraging schools to link up to businesses and setting up sponsored academies.

Labour's £3bn war on youth crime has failed: 19 May 2008A report by the Centre for Crime and Justice Studies to be published this week, compares the amount of public money spent by ministers with its impact on youth crime levels.

Parents to get power to call in school inspectors: 19 May 2008Ofsted is to outline new proposals for reform of the school inspection system today.

£6m alcohol campaign launched by government: 19 May 2008The government is to launch its biggest ever alcohol awareness campaign today amid concerns that too many people are unwittingly drinking too much.

The teen go-betweens: 16 May 2008Young people are often seen as the cause of antisocial behaviour in communities.

Seventy per cent of young people say they are tarred with negative image: 16 May 2008Seventy per cent of young people say they are negatively perceived by the public despite the fact that 44 per cent say they do positive things for their communities and 57 per cent give or raise money for charities.

Watchdog criticised for asking pupils 'intrusive' questions: 16 May 2008A major Ofsted survey asking more than 110,000 pupils about their home lives has been criticised for using innapropriate questions.

Offences by girls up by 25 per cent as crimes by boys fall slightly: 16 May 2008The Times examines youth crime and the statistics showing a rise in offences committed by young women following yesterday's report released by The Youth Justice Board.

Comment – Weapons we can't handle: 16 May 2008Guardian comment piece by the broadcaster Mark Lawson on the rise in knife related crime among young people in the UK.

Crimestoppers uses Facebook to fight crime: 16 May 2008To reach wider audiences with its crime-fighting message, the charity Crimestoppers has set up a page on the social networking site, Facebook.

Sex disease fears over young people: 16 May 2008Nearly half of all under-25s do not use condoms with new partners, according to a new survey.

Prime Minister sets out draft legislative programme: 15 May 2008The Prime Minister Gordon Brown has set out his draft legislative programme to the House of Commons.

Community leadership approaches to tackling street crime: 15 May 2008The Joseph Rowntreee Foundation has published a report which reviews the approaches taken by a social enterprise in Manchester to tackle street crime through its work with young people.

Crime by girls rises by a quarter: 15 May 2008Figures from the Youth Justice Board have revealed that crime committed by girls and young women in England and Wales have risen by up to 25 per cent in three years.

British crime survey extended to under-16s: 15 May 2008The Home Secretary has announced proposals to extend the British Crime Survey (BCS) to include surveys of under-16s' experiences of crime.

Clampdown on disability bullying: 15 May 2008The government is to launch a guide advising schools on how to stop the bullying of children with special needs or disabilities.

Met extends powers to stop and search young people: 14 May 2008Police officers in London have been using powers which allow them to stop and search young people without having reasonable suspicion in an attempt to curb the number of stabbing deaths in the capital.

Young people have the tools for change at their fingertips: 14 May 2008Comment piece on how social networking sites can be effective in giving young people a voice on global and environmental change.

Making connections thanks to the safety net: 14 May 2008Article describes two projects, In Brazil and Birmingham, which show how in deprived areas, where communities are often divided and dangerous, the internet can be the safest place for young people to connect with each other and make their voices heard.

Report shows debt is "endemic" amongst young people: 14 May 2008Youth charity, Rainer, has released a new report which states that debt has become a 'fact of life' amongst young adults, who increasingly rely on credit to get by.

Snack ban 'helps healthy eating': 13 May 2008Researchers from Cardiff University have found that banning all unhealthy snacks in schools is the most effective way of getting children and young people to eat healthily.

Health means more to young people than booze, sex and drugs: 13 May 2008The Institute of Education has reported that it is to host a conference on May 14th at which young people will voice their opinion that health means more to them than smoking, alcohol, healthy eating, sex and drugs.

Department of Health launches campaign to address inequalities in breastfeeding: 13 May 2008To mark National Breastfeeding Awareness Week (11-17 May 2008), the Department of Health is to encourage young mothers from low-income backgrounds to access support that will help them to breastfeed for longer.

Mother’s low income the source of 70% of child poverty says Fawcett Society: 13 May 2008The women’s rights organisation the Fawcett Society has launched a new campaign entitled, 'Keeping Mum', which exposes the links between women's poverty and children poverty.

Half of young people in Liverpool admit to having taken cocaine: 12 May 2008Research from Liverpool John Moores University, which surveyed young people from nine European cities, including Liverpool for the UK, found that more than 50% of young people in Liverpool admit to having taken cocaine.

New guidance on monitoring local tensions cause by rising migration and diversity: 12 May 2008The Department for Communities is to launch new guidance on monitoring local tensions cause by rising migration and diversity.

Government signs Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse: 12 May 2008The government has signed the Council of Europe's Convention on the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.

Government announces peer mentoring scheme aimed at young people at risk of becoming homeless: 12 May 2008Housing Minister Iain Wright has announced a new peer mentoring scheme aimed at young people at risk of becoming homeless.

Young people ignoring advice on dangers of alcohol: 12 May 2008Research conducted at the University of Bath has concluded that the constant emphasis on the dangers of alcohol by the government is doing nothing to deter people from drinking excessively.

London's Deputy Mayor for young people answers questions: 12 May 2008Question and answer article with Ray Lewis, deputy London mayor for young people.

Decline in anti-social behaviour orders: 9 May 2008Home Office figures show that the number of new anti-social behaviour orders issued have dropped by 34 per cent from 4,123 in 2005 to 2,706 in 2006.

Children’s peers are best people to warn of smoking dangers: 9 May 2008New research from the Universities of Bristol and Cardiff has found that anti-smoking advice is best delivered to young people by young people.

Children being failed by progressive teaching: 9 May 2008Conservative shadow education secretary Michael Gove has criticised the government's education policies in a speech at a teachers conference in Sussex.

Young people drink to increase their chances of having sex: 9 May 2008Almost a third of young men and a quarter of young women drink to increase their chances of having sex but many go on to regret having sex under the influence, according to a new study published in BMC Public Health.

Plan to harass anti-social young people: 8 May 2008The Guardian reports that Home Secretary Jacqui Smith is to announce that police should be harassing badly behaved young people by openly filming them and hounding them at home to make their lives as uncomfortable as possible.

Parents to text for help with young people: 8 May 2008Parents of badly behaved young people will be given advice on how to deal with them by text message as part of a £44 million Government project.

Scientists warn Smith over Cannabis reclassification: 8 May 2008Following Home Secretary Jacqui Smith's decision to upgrade the legal status of the drug cannabis from class C to B, the government's own scientific advisers have warned, that her decision would not work in curbing its widespread abuse.

Pupils progress should be available to parents online – Ed Balls: 8 May 2008Schools should post children’s progress reports online to help overcome a decline in the popularity of the traditional parents’ evening, the Schools Secretary has said.

Knight: Give young people a voice: 8 May 2008The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) has published new advice on how to get young people involved in their school and learn important citizenship skills, for example through ‘buddying’ younger pupils and encouraging them to study or improve behaviour.

Boris will put unruly young people in weekend boot camps: 7 May 2008On his first working day as London mayor, Boris Johnson has outlined his plans to tackle youth violence in the capital.

From petty crime to small business in one smart move: 7 May 2008A profile of a social enterprise in Birmingham which trains young people in media and business skills.

348,000 ‘persistent truant’ risk: 7 May 2008More than one in 20 pupils in England is at risk of becoming a persistent truant, according to new figures released by the Department for Children, Skills and Families.

Row looming over cannabis grading: 7 May 2008Ministers are expected to ignore the advice of official government advisors, The Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs (ACMD) over cannabis grading.

Minister mentions The National Youth Agency: 7 May 2008In a written answer to a parliamentary question about which publicly funded charities are working to promote youth volunteering, Minister for the Third Sector Phil Hope cites The National Youth Agency as an OTS strategic partner.

Parents afraid to allow their children to cycle on roads: 6 May 2008A new survey by Cycling England has found that parents are preventing their children cycling to school or cycling on the roads because of fears for their safety.

Store drops Mosquito device in autism row: 6 May 2008The Co-op is to become the first chain of shops to abandon its use of the Mosquito, the controversial anti-teenager device, on the grounds that it may be having serious effects on people with autism.

Fifteen local areas to lead pathfinder projects supporting vulnerable families: 6 May 2008The details of a £16m 'Family Pathfinder' programme have been announced naming 15 local areas where disadvantaged families will be offered intensive help and support.

MP calls for alcohol ad ban at sports events: 6 May 2008A Labour MP has called for a ban on alcohol advertising at sporting events in an attempt to combat binge drinking amongst young people.

UK Youth Parliament at Westminster: 2 May 2008Three hundred members of the UK Youth Parliament are sitting in the House of Lords today in a move to listen to the voices of children and young people.

MPs debate young people and knife crime: 1 May 2008MPs yesterday debated the issue of young people and knife crime in the Commons.