Governments are often criticised for carrying out consultation on plans that appear to have already been made. In the case of Youth Work - Opportunities for All, however, the Scottish Executive seems to have gone to the other extreme.
Rather than receiving a draft version of the long-awaited national youth work strategy, the eager reader is instead confronted with 36 questions, which it was assumed government officials had been attempting to formulate answers to themselves for the past two years, causing the document's delay.
Up for debate
Until the consultation period is complete in November, the Scottish Executive says it is too early to speculate on the level of funding needed to back up the strategy, or whether a statutory duty should be placed on local authorities to provide youth opportunities.
Youth organisations are largely viewing this blank sheet approach optimistically. With the Scottish elections and the Treasury's comprehensive spending review looming next year, many feel there is everything to play for.
YouthLink Scotland will be using the forthcoming elections to convince decision-makers of the need for a Scottish Youth Work Act to create a minimum entitlement to youth work services for young people, a move broadly supported across the sector.
The organisation's chief executive, Jim Sweeney, says: "Hopefully, this document is the precursor to Scotland's (version of) Youth Matters. We hope the strategy will carry a clear intention of where resources are likely to come from and focus on work to create some sort of minimum standard." According to Sweeney, youth work funding is subject to a "postcode lottery".
He says: "A strategy without a resource allocation would be toothless."
The needs of volunteers, who make up an estimated 80 per cent of those working with young people in Scotland, are likely to form a major plank of the strategy. Dwindling funding and training opportunities are likely to be major issues raised by volunteers, according to Carol Downie, chief executive of Youth Scotland, which represents 600 organisations. "The funding is not there in community learning and development," she says.
Lack of cash
Tony Boffey, head of community learning and development at Dundee City Council, says councils do not have enough money to offer a universal youth work entitlement. "We want to see an entitlement for all young people," he says.
Boffey is sceptical about one of the themes in the consultation document, described by education minister Peter Peacock as one of his "major preoccupations"; developing the role of youth workers in schools. He is resistant to the concept of youth work being subsumed by school-based agendas such as the Curriculum for Excellence, which aims to personalise learning. "We have concerns about the profile of youth work over the past couple of years," he says.
Boffey says the forthcoming strategy should also set out how youth-friendly decision-making structures can be created to enable young people to contribute to community planning.
Rajiv Joshi, 22, chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament, is calling for a review of recreational areas for Scotland's young people. "Many youth clubs are open at times when young people are not likely to use them," he says. "There are some real issues in terms of where services are delivered and how they fit into the lifestyles of young people."
Rajiv says the youth parliament will be encouraging young people to take part in the strategy consultation.
In the meantime, the consultation document has already provoked debate about the role of youth work. Sweeney would have liked to see more reference made to the nature and purpose of youth work in Scotland, outlined for the first time in a document by YouthLink Scotland and partners last year.
But Andrew Girvan, NCH Scotland's director of children's services, emphasises the need for a broader youth strategy. "We're pleased that the Scottish Executive has not limited this to the areas where young people choose to get involved," he says.
Scotland's first national youth work strategy is now promised next spring.
