- Management Resources
- Youthwork Resources

Key References

The purpose of this section of the website is to enable Members to draw down rapidly on key documentation that might be needed to support a grant bid, or to inform some local analysis.

There is a stack of relevant papers – here are some of the key documents:

Since the 2010 election, Government references have changed. The information here is updated as and when it becomes available.

New Coalition Government

New Government website replacing DCSF is the Department of Education.

Government Coalition Briefing

Government Coalition Agreement

The Big Society

The new coalition Government has initiated a programme called 'The Big Society' a plan of social responsibility and community action.

The new Coalition Government has included the Conservative Party’s concept of a Big Society in its Coalition Agreement, and this will therefore be carried forward. Francis Maude is the Minister of State for the Cabinet Office and is the Minister responsible.

It is a significant development that arguably will shift power from Central Government to local communities, and as a “big idea” may help to offset the draconian public expenditure cuts that are part of what the Chancellor George Osborne called “the age of austerity”.

Origins
In a speech on 31 March 2010, before the General Election, David Cameron launched the document – “ Big Society, not Big Government” in the following terms:

"Conservatives today set out policies to help mend Britain's Broken Society, including the creation of a new "neighbourhood army" of 5,000 professional community organisers that would give communities the help they need to work together and tackle their problems. Conservatives seek to build a ‘Big Society’ based on responsibility and respect, in stark contrast with Labour's Big Government built on paternalism and waste."It is a guiding philosophy", Cameron said, "a society where the leading force for progress is social responsibility, not state control". "It includes a whole set of unifying approaches – breaking state monopolies, allowing charities, social enterprises and companies to provide public services, devolving power down to neighbourhoods, making government more accountable". "And it’s the thread that runs consistently through our whole policy programme – our plans to reform public services, mend our broken society, and rebuild trust in politics."

The new policies announced as part of the Big Society plan include:

In part, it is from the extensive and sustained work of Ian Duncan Smith MP in examining “The Broken Society”.

Neighbourhood army” of 5,000 full-time, professional community organisers who will be trained with the skills they need to identify local community leaders, bring communities together, help people start their own neighbourhood groups, and give communities the help they need to take control and tackle their problems. This plan is directly based on the successful community organising movement established by Saul Alinsky in the United States and has successfully trained generations of community organisers, including President Obama.
A Big Society Bank, funded from unclaimed bank assets, which will leverage private sector investment to provide hundreds of millions of pounds of new finance for neighbourhood groups, charities, social enterprises and other non-governmental bodies.
Neighbourhood grants for the UK’s poorest areas to encourage people to come together to form neighbourhood groups and support social enterprises and charities in these poorest areas.
Transforming the civil service into a ‘civic service’ by making regular community service a key element in civil servant staff appraisals.
Launching an annual national ‘Big Society Day’ to celebrate the work of neighbourhood groups and encourage more people to take part in social action projects.
Providing new funding to support the next generation of social entrepreneurs, and helping successful social enterprises to expand and succeed.
It is interesting to reflect on where some of this thinking has come from.

The argument that Britain is a “broken society” is sustained in six volumes of reports produced by the Social Justice Policy Group, a think tank funded by the Conservative Party. In order to break this cycle of deprivation, the Social Justice Policy Group defined the five key "paths to poverty" - family breakdown, serious personal debt, drug and alcohol addiction, failed education and worklessness. The sixth volume was about the contribution of the Voluntary Sector - “ Breakthrough Britain: Third Sector”.

Details can be found on their website: www.centreforsocialjustice.org.uk (to find the reports look under Publications)

The second influence would appear to be the writing of Phillip Blond a former theology lecturer turned policy adviser to Cameron, and founder of Respublica a think tank - www.respublica.org.uk . Blond is sometimes characterised as a Red Tory

Blond’s themes have been about breaking up the power of the State and private sector monopolies and empowering local communities. The following article is a useful summary: Rise of the red Tories". Prospect. http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/2009/02/riseoftheredtories

Recent Developments (June 2010)
Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office has announced his intention to set up a fund to foster the creation of community groups in deprived areas. In a press release Maude said the fund, called Communities First, would provide start-up funding for community groups in disadvantaged parts of the country. The Minister said that one of the Government's main aims was to increase social capital in local areas by creating small neighbourhood groups. The Government would also ensure that charities and social enterprises bidding for payment-by-results contracts in welfare or the rehabilitation of prisoners would have access to working capital so they were able to compete.

SO will it work?
The new Coalition Government is not the first to have promoted decentralisation and empowering of local communities and neighbourhoods. However the Coalition is itself unprecedented…and it might just work…watch this space.

References

The Government website: http://www.thebigsociety.co.uk/

The NCVO has published a briefing on the Big Society. For more see: http://www.ncvo-vol.org.uk/sites/default/files/Big_Society_Programme_briefing_final_0.pdf

Government Office for the South East presentation and update on 'The Big Society' and new Government policies.

The Young Foundation is developing a financial tool called Social Impact Bonds to provide a new way to invest money in social outcomes. For more on this innovative scheme see: http://www.youngfoundation.org/social-innovation/tips/social-impact-bonds-and-social-value

New Philanthropy Capital has published a paper NPC Perspectives: Proving your worth to Whitehall. See their website for more information: http://www.philanthropycapital.org/publications/improving_the_sector/improving_charities/Proving_worth_Whitehall.aspx

Total Place, Co-production & SROI - 2010

You will be hearing a lot more about Total Place, Social Return on Investment and especially Co – production over the next year or so. Here are two reports on these important subjects which are likely to frame the way in which the statutory and voluntary sectors interact with each other over the next few years.

See here for one of the original reports 'The Challenge of Co-Production' for a useful starting point.

National

SUBJECT TO CHANGE with new Coalition Government: Some of the links below may no longer be accessible. SEE NOTE ABOVE.

The Department for Education has replaced the DCSF. New website: http://www.education.gov.uk/

Every Child Matters:
The Every Child Matters green paper that was highly influential. See Every Child Matters website from which the text below is taken. http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/aims/outcomes/

In 2003, the Labour Government published a Green Paper called Every Child Matters alongside the formal response to the report into the death of Victoria Climbié. After a thorough consultation process, the Children Act 2004 became law. This legislation is the legal underpinning for Every Child Matters, which set out the last Government’s approach to the well-being of children and young people from birth to age 19.

The aims of the Every Child Matters programme was to give all children the support they need to:
• be healthy
• stay safe
• enjoy and achieve
• make a positive contribution
• achieve economic well-being.

Childrens Act 2004:
The Children Act 2004 provided the legal underpinning for the transformation of children's services as set out in the Every Child Matters: Change for Children programme. Section 10 of the Act provides the statutory basis for Children's Trusts (the duty to cooperate). See Every Child Matters (DCSF) website.

Revised Children's Trust (CT) guidance on the 'duty to cooperate' was published on 18 November 2008. The 'relevant partners' currently under the 'duty to cooperate' are: district councils, the police, the Probation Board, the Youth Offending Team, the Strategic Health Authority and Primary Care Trusts (PCTs), Connexions partnerships, and the Learning and Skills Council (LSC).

The relevant partners are placed under a "duty to cooperate” in the making of arrangements to improve well-being' and have a power to pool budgets and share other resources.

The Labour Government intended to add to this list of relevant partners other bodies including maintained schools, Academies, further education and sixth form colleges and Job Centre Plus, to bring key delivery partners into the strategic planning role of the CT.

The Children's Plan:
The Children's Plan: building brighter futures (Dec 2007) recognises the importance of CTs in forging collaborative partnerships, improving integration of services and delivering measurable improvements for all children and young people.
There is a an emphasis on the achievement on outcomes and these are contained in an outcomes framework (See also Surrey Strategic Partnership)

Aiming High: Youth Matters – A Ten Year Strategy
Every Child Matters then spawned a similar series of papers – Family Matters, and, importantly, Aiming High Youth Matters. This set out the landscape of the Government’s intentions for young people. See PDF & website.

Aiming High for Young People: Implementation Plan
Following on from this was an Implementation Plan (March 2008) which further specifies what should be in the Youth Offer to young people, and specifically:

• rebalancing the public narrative about young people – ie celebrating their achievements, and holding a Youth Week
• young people to be empowered and involved in decisions about their lives – specifically by young people controlling the Youth Opportunities and Youth Capital Funds
• increasing the number of places for them to go locally - Places to go and things to do
• removing barriers and providing support – specifically the PAYP fund,(Positive Activities for Young People fund , which, despite the title, is a targeted fund
• improving the quality and capacity of services to young people,
• developing the youth workforce (see CWDC below)

PSA 14:
The Implementation Plan also saw the introduction in Oct 2007 of Public Service Agreement 14 which applies to central and local government – the latter through the comparable national indicators (NIs) against which local government services are assessed, namely:

“To increase the number of children and young people on the path to success”. Where “success” is measured by 5 increasingly familiar targets:

PSA Indicator Number	Indicator	Corresponding National Indicator (NI)
1.	Reduce the number of young people Not in Education Training or Employment (NEET)	NI 117
2.	More participation in positive activities	NI 57
3.	Reduce the proportion of young people frequently using illicit drugs, alcohol , or volatile substances	NI 110
4.	Reduce the under – 18 conception rate	NI 112
5.	Reduce the number of first – time entrants to the Criminal Justice System	NI 111

Positive Activities for Young People
There is a statutory requirement on local authorities to secure (not necessarily provide) sufficient positive activities for all young people. This requirement is set out in “Statutory Guidance on Section 507 B Education Act 1996. The key extracts from this document are:

1. “Section 507B requires that every local authority in England must, ‘so far as reasonably practicable, secure for qualifying young persons in the authority’s area access to:

a) sufficient educational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities; and

b) sufficient recreational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities.

These are referred to in the legislation as ‘positive leisure-time activities.

2. The definition of ‘well-being’ in the legislation reflects the five ‘Every Child Matters’ Outcomes . Activities which do not result in an improvement in well-being and which do not help meet these outcomes are not within the scope of the new duty.

3. The duty therefore requires that, so far as reasonably practicable, access is secured to the two forms of positive activity (and to sufficient facilities for them) set out above. The two forms of activity are not mutually exclusive, as some activities will fall into both categories; but the local authority must secure access for young people to sufficient forms of, and facilities for, both types of positive activity.

4. ‘Educational leisure-time activities’ include but are not limited to homework or special interest clubs; out of school hours coaching in artistic, sporting or other physical activities; and learning opportunities available through facilities offering residential, weekend or holiday-time services . Volunteering activity will also fall within this category of activity; where young people gain valuable non-formal educational benefits from the experience.

5. The legislation also requires that the educational leisure-time activities and associated facilities to which access is to be secured must include sufficient educational leisure-time activities (and facilities for such activities) which are for the improvement of young people’s personal and social development. This sub-set of ‘educational leisure-time activity’ relates to activities which are delivered using youth work methods and approaches.

6. ‘Recreational leisure-time activities’ include but are not limited to sports and informal physical activities, as well as cultural activities including music, performing and visual arts and self-directed learning in a museum or gallery.”
The Guidance then defines what is meant by “sufficient” Positive activities, as follows:

National Standards for Positive Activities

Access to two hours per week of sporting activity including formal and informal team and individual sports, outdoor and adventurous sports, and other physical activities such as aerobics and dance - provided through national curriculum and leisure-time activities.

Access to two hours per week of other constructive activities in clubs, youth groups and classes. This includes activities in which young people pursue their interests and hobbies; activities contributing to their personal, social and spiritual development; activities encouraging creativity; innovation and enterprise; study support; and residential opportunities.

Opportunities to make a positive contribution to their community through volunteering, including leading action, campaigning and fundraising.

A wide range of other recreational, cultural, sporting and enriching experiences. A range of safe and enjoyable places in which to spend time. This could simply be somewhere to socialise with friends.

These definitions are significant, and are often referred to as “The Youth Offer”. The value of sport and leisure activities in curbing ant- social behaviour is argued by the Audit Commission in “Tired of Hanging Around” Jan 2009.
So for example in Feb 2010 all local authorities are being asked to measure their provision of positive activities, with particular reference to Friday and Saturday night activities. As regards Friday and Saturday night opening , see the DCSF’s “Open for the Weekend “ (April 2009) which confirms the value of week – end activities for young people.

See the DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) report: DCSF: Positive Activites: Qualitative Research with Young People.

Local - Surrey

Surrey Policies

Policies for Children and Young People in Surrey are determined by the Strategic Forum of the Surrey Alliance for Children and Young People (Children’s Trust).

The current C&YP Plan is for 9/10 and can be found on the Surrey CC website. See also Workforce Development and Meetings and Networks on this website.

Surrey Economic Partnership report for September 2009 'Surrey Economic Propspects', includes information at the request of Surrey Youth Focus about youth unemployment and NEET to reflect some of the impact of the recession on young people.