Agenda item

To consider a report of the Director of Education, Works and Skills.

The report provides details relating to the Services for Young People and data gathered to date relating to:-

·       How to fulfil our Statutory duty under Section 507B of the Education Act

·       Guidance Overview – Needs Assessment

·       Analyse, Plan, Do Review Commissioning Model

·       Impact on Workforce Development

·       RTime Detached Team – Peer Review

·       Feedback from Young People

The Panel is requested to comment on and note the report.

Officer contact: Heidi Shaw, email: Heidi.shaw@stockport.gov.uk

The Director, Family Help and Integration (Heidi Shaw) submitted a report (copies of which had been circulated) providing details relating to the Services for Young People and data gathered relating to:-

How to fulfil our Statutory duty under Section 507B of the Education Act

·       Covers 13 - 19 year olds (or up to 24 for those with special educational needs).

·       Authorities must secure sufficient services for qualifying young people in their area.

·       Authorities may directly provide services, assist others in the provision of services, make arrangements for facilitating access to services or anything else that may be appropriate.

·       Authorities may also consider if actions should be taken by the Authority or another party, and they may charge for anything provided under this duty.

·       Authorities must take steps to learn about young people’s views in the area.

·       Authorities must publicise information about available services and keep this up to date.

·       Authorities must have regard to any guidance.

·       The council  is  not  duty  bound  to  directly  deliver  these services themselves  but have  a  duty  to  ensure  access  to youth services that meet high standards.

Guidance Overview – Needs Assessment

·       Each local authority must co-produce and publish a local youth offer plan.  This will be informed by the local needs analysis.  Councils are advised to adopt a typical analyse, plan, do, review model.  This is a large piece of work to undertake.

Analyse, Plan, Do Review Commissioning Model

·       Each council must work with young people and their local youth sector partners to complete the local youth needs assessment.  This should be both quantitively and qualitatively information using local knowledge.

·       The goal is to publish a public report that shows the needs of young people and how the council and its partners will focus the efforts and resources.

Impact on Workforce Development

·       LA’s will want to consider implementing a workforce development plan, devised with consideration given to the local needs analysis, the capacity and strength of existing local providers and the strategics and operational priorities of other allied sectors in the area.  A co-produced plan will support LA’s and its partners to invest in and secure the right mix of workers (paid or voluntary).

·       All staff and volunteers should have the opportunity to access and engage in training and development activities that support their own needs and those of young people.

·       There should be an expectation that all people working with young people (paid or unpaid in any capacity) have undergone basic safeguarding training that is updated bi-annually.  This training does not have to be provided by the LA but it should be identified, coordinated and promoted by them.

RTime Detached Team – Peer Review

·       Peer review took place on 4th October and was led by Youth Focus North West.

·       Youth Focus North West (YFNW), as the regional youth work unit, has taken a lead in co[1]ordinating and managing a peer-to-peer programme across the region which is developmental and promotes critical dialogue

·       The focus for the review was on strategic positioning of youth work and its contribution to LA outcomes. Engaging with and reporting to senior officers/elected members

·       The reviewing team interviewed various strategic leads, Councillor Meikle, 3rd sector organisations, the R Time detached team and also spoke to a group of young people.

·       The review team was impressed by the enthusiasm which senior managers, and elected members demonstrated for children and young people in Stockport. Senior managers report that Stockport Children’s Services is ‘on a journey’ of rapid and fundamental rethinking about service delivery.

·       The review team is of the view that youth work, as a unique discipline and shared methodology, is not sufficiently evident among the above developments.

·       The small detached team has a clear purpose, is respected, and appears to plan and conduct its work coherently. Vitally, young people regularly engage with detached worker.

·       It is now timely for managers to consider a time limited review into whether youth work might be better secured with greater visibility and ‘shape and form’ than is currently the case.

The following comments were made/issues raised:-

·       Members welcomed the report and the references to the statutory guidance and the obligations for Stockport Council.

·       Clarification was sought on whether there were ways to measure the success of the outcomes. In response, it was stated that there was not an absolute set of measures to look at the impact, but there were other ways to monitor and evaluate e.g. ‘Reach’ and ‘Accessibility’.

·       It was also noted that the feedback from the young people was the most valuable together with the services being regularly reviewed and the continuous engagement with young people. It was also stated that the feedback from the young people referenced was only a sample from 50 young people, however, it was noted that the ‘Youth Alliance’ feedback was relatively new and that the ‘needs assessment’ would need to be completed which would provider a wider feedback sample.

·       There were requests from young people for more sports activities and day trips, but how were these being met. It was stated that there were a number of options for young people available including life leisure and football for both boys and girls with Level 3 training courses and apprenticeships being established.

·       It was commented that there were approximately 20,000 young people in the age group that the Scrutiny Review were looking into and that about 89% of those young people stay on for full time education and about another 7% are in apprenticeships. Stockport also have a really good programme for the young people that are ‘NEET’ and working with them. It was also stated that the Stockport Council was equipped in various services including education, health and social care with the skills and experience with youth work qualifications to support those young people all the way through into adolescence.

·       It was also noted that the ‘Bee Survey’ was hugely successful with Stockport having the highest response from young people, but from the responses Stockport needed to ensure that the data was captured and tested and responded to effectively.

·       Members enquired about the level of assurances from the organisations involved in the services to young people and how this was being monitored. In response, it was noted that there were various levels of safeguarding already in place including the national youth agency safeguarding that ensure that colleagues, partners and young people are kept safe in a number of ways.

·       It was noted that further data was being collated from mainstream secondary schools and specialist school for random samples to reflect a different dimension and obtain a representative feedback from a range of young people.

The Chair commented that the following conclusions could be drawn from the discussions as a way forward as well as for proposed recommendations to be considered: -

·       Co-ordination of what's already happening relating to the services for young people, training available and the quality of the training in terms of quality control issues for those provisions.

·       The mechanisms in place to provide those assurances of quality and safety.

·       Ensuring there was a robust collection of data from a wide cross section of young people.

Members agreed that they were satisfied to date with the presentations and reports submitted by officers and were pleased with the level of detail that the review scrutinised.

Members thanked the officer team for the presentation and the level of detail with the data presented.

RESOLVED – (1) That the report be noted.

(2) That the following discussion points be considered as part of the review’s recommendations:-

·       Co-ordination of what's already happening relating to the services for young people, training available and the quality of the training in terms of quality control issues for those provisions.

·       The mechanisms in place to provide those assurances of quality and safety.

·       Ensuring there was a robust collection of data from a wide cross section of young people.