The Board considered a report of the Acting Strategic Director – Children and Young People providing information on developments regarding youth matters and Connexions transition.

 

It was noted that the publication of the Green Paper “Youth Matters” had presented a number of proposals building upon the Every Child Matters Agenda and taking into account the 14 – 19 Education in Schools White Paper proposals. Youth Matters proposed the merger of a range of existing Government funding streams which were targeted at young people. These would be devolved to local authorities, working through Children’s Trusts, to ensure a more holistic approach to meeting the needs of young people at a local level. The subsequent Next Steps document cemented the proposals following consultation and identified four key themes as priorities for delivering services to young people:

 

(1)   Empowering Young People – things to do and places to go;

 

(2)   Young People as Citizens – making a contribution;

 

(3)   Supporting Choices – information, advice and guidance; and

 

(4)   All Young People Achieving – reforming targeted support.

 

Within the key themes, specific actions were set down and these were outlined for the Board’s consideration.

 

The Education and Inspections Act 2006 consolidated these requirements placing new statutory duties upon local authorities to ensure that young people had access to a wide range of positive activities which empowered them to shape the services they received. Specific guidance and information that had recently been published was outlined for the Board’s information.

 

In addition Members were advised that Connexions was an information, advice and guidance organisation, which predominantly delivered services to 13-19 year olds. Connexions in Halton was delivered as part of Greater Merseyside Connexions Partnership (GMCP) made up of the Boroughs of Halton, Liverpool, Wirral, St. Helens, Sefton and Knowsley. In order to ensure effective transition, a GMCP Transition Group had been established with representatives at Chief Executive or Director of Children’s Services level from all six Boroughs. The group had published an interim report in January 2007, which set down a framework for development.

 

A Multi-Agency Youth Matters Steering Group had been established and specific terms of reference set. The Group would answer directly to the Universal Task Group within the Children’s Alliance Board Framework. At the last Youth Matters Steering Group, a proposal for a smaller, time limited Integrated Youth Support (IYS) Working Group to be established had been endorsed. The main aim of this team was to plan, co-ordinate and deliver a multi-agency changed plan. A multi-agency half day event had already taken place to launch the transition process and Connexions Transition Funding had secured the half-time secondment of the Connexions Area Manager to the Local Authority to add capacity to develop the agenda.

 

The next step actions to be taken were outlined for the Board.

 

Members considered a number of issues as follows:

 

·               The Halton Youth Bank was proving to be successful with 44 applications received so far and 12 being approved. It was noted that it had taken some time to get the YouthBank in the Borough up and running due to the amount of training required; however, the funding from the previous year had not been lost and would be rolled-forward.

·               A lot of work was going on with young people in the Borough and there had been a number of recent events where a large number of children had attended and presented themselves in an excellent manner.

·               There was a need to publish examples of successful events via press releases.

 

Reason for Decision

 

Integrated youth support was a key cornerstone of Youth Matters and integral to securing the delivery of the Education and Inspections Act 2006.

 

Alternative Options considered and rejected

 

None.

 

Implementation Date

 

To be agreed with proposals in October 2007.

 

RESOLVED: That

 

(1)       the development of proposals and options to secure Integrated Youth Support from April 2008 be supported;

 

(2)       the information be noted and the actions proposed in Section 6 of the report, as outlined below, be agreed:

 

(a)    a multi-agency change plan be developed by April with a comprehensive implementation plan to follow – the change plan will concentrate on identifying the options for future developments;

 

(b)   the option of IYS becoming a mini-trust be explored: in the first instance, the pooling of the resources for Connexions and Youth Services would occur; following this, the possibility of pooling other resources such as commissioned services could be pursued;

 

(c)   following the agreement of outcomes and consultation with key stakeholders, the core structure of IYS (initially Connexions and YS) be developed – this would include links to Halton Borough Council management structures;

 

(d)   the current contract arrangements with Connexions continue whilst future options are explored; and

 

(e)    a report be tabled to the Council’s Executive Board, and Children and Young People Alliance Board, in October 2007 to propose specific recommendations and options; and

 

(3)       a further report be presented to the Board in October 2007.