Editorial: Draft green paper begs many questions

The primacy of children's trusts and the need to move quickly towards the framework and five outcomes first proposed in Every Child Matters make up the spine of the document.

But it still begs more questions than it answers. For Connexions, the future will involve significant change. Responsibility for commissioning advice and guidance will move to schools and colleges, and to children's trusts for those not attending an educational establishment. Connexions partnerships are fighting a strong rearguard action against this and are trying to show how they can integrate with trusts without being broken up (see p6).

The fear for youth services is that they already feel insufficiently involved in children's trusts, and the increased strength of trusts could mean services being marginalised. The budgets of principal youth officers will be thrown into the pot with other funding streams, under the ultimate control of directors of children's services. If youth work isn't properly represented in the process, hungry predators from education and social services will train their beady eyes on youth service money.