We are grateful to Doug Nicholls, Sue Atkins and Bernard Davies for drawing our urgent attention to the decision to hold a Parliamentary Select Committee Inquiry into services for young people.

Doug’s notification to us continues:

This is the first ever such inquiry and it comes at a critical time.

We are therefore asking all those who care for youth work to ensure that they try and make a submission. Parents and young people should too. The deadline as you will see is noon on December 15^th.

Please could you send all your submissions to the union also at kerry.jenkins@unitetheunion.org. please submit to the union for information by December 14^th. This will help us to assess what has been said to see how the final report reflects the evidence.

The opportunity should be taken to argue for proper investment in youth work, through a youth service staffed by sufficient numbers of JNC trained and paid staff. Give examples of the excellence of youth work in your area and examples of the appalling effects of cuts already and the stupidity of privatisation and outsourcing.

The terms of reference of the inquiry are attached together with details of how to make a submission.

This is a really significant opportunity to argue for youth work and a properly funded youth service. Please do not miss this opportunity.

Yours fraternally,

Doug Nicholls.

http://www.parliament.uk/business/committees/committees-a-z/commons-select/education-committee/news/new-inquiry-announced-services-for-young-people/

Guide for written submissions  http://www.parliament.uk/documents/upload/witnessguide.pdf

The Education Committee is announcing an inquiry into the provision of services beyond the school/college day for young people, primarily those aged 13-25.

The inquiry will consider both universal services – for instance youth clubs, or sporting, musical and cultural activities – and targeted services for vulnerable groups. Please note that this inquiry will not examine formal careers guidance services, including those provided by Connexions.

Written submissions are invited, addressing the following points:

• The relationship between universal and targeted services for young people;
• How services for young people can meet the Government’s priorities for volunteering, including the role of National Citizen Service;
• Which young people access services, what they want from those services and their role in shaping provision;
• The relative roles of the voluntary, community, statutory and private sectors in providing services for young people;
• The training and workforce development needs of the sector;
• The impact of public sector spending cuts on funding and commissioning of services, including how available resources can best be maximised, and whether payment by results is desirable and achievable;
• How local government structures and statutory frameworks impact on service provision; and
• How the value and effectiveness of services should be assessed.

In the next few weeks we will draft a submission from the Campaign and circulate this to our supporters.  We concur with Doug’s plea for a plurality of responses, including young people themselves. In addition we have written, asking whether the Committee will be taking evidence in person from selected witnesses.

Youth Services Inquiry – circular from UK Youth Parliament

We’ve received notice of the following UKYP initiative focused on youth participation.  Selling the survey on the basis it will only take two minutes seems problematic. What depth will be uncovered? Whatever, have a look for yourself.

The House of Commons’ Education Select Committee are conducting an inquiry into the provision of services beyond the school/college day for young people, primarily those aged 13-25. This is a great opportunity for you to highlight the work that you do and the UK Youth Parliament are keen to ensure your voices are heard. We are looking to hear from as many youth workers as possible about participation services, what young people want from those services and their role in shaping provision. We are also looking to find out about the impact of public sector spending cuts on funding and commissioning of participation services and how the value and effectiveness of these services should be assessed. We will use the overall findings to make a submission to the House of Commons next month. In order to do this we have opened up a survey for workers. Any information you provide will be used anonymously and you do not have to list your name/contact details if you do not wish to. Please make sure that any examples/projects you list are not identifiable if you do not wish them to be.  This survey will close on Monday 29th November and we will be submitting our findings to the Education Select Committee next month.

The survey should only take a couple of minutes to fill in and can be found here – http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/PZKLCYK.