YES - Caroline Abrahams, director of policy, NCH
I say yes, though I accept this requires a big leap of faith. The right national targets are required so youth issues aren't forgotten. Trusts will also need the resources to carry out their tasks - a major doubt at present.
But this question is currently impossible to answer because the Government hasn't yet decided how trusts will work. I understand every local authority area will have to set up an overarching partnership, though whether as the trust board or above the trust still remains unclear.
The partnership will develop the local vision for services and an outline delivery plan, so it is crucial that young people's issues are high on its agenda and every area has a strategy for improving outcomes for children and young people. This means youth issues must be adequately represented round the table, and we must scrutinise not only the children bill but also the guidance - due in early 2005 - to ensure they are.
YES - Andrew Christie, director, Hammersmith and Fulham Children's Trust
Children's trusts are about joint commissioning, multi-agency and multidisciplinary teams and making sure all services are better connected and doing more preventative work.
I do recognise the concerns of those who are worried about the terminology of children's trusts, but young people are a prime concern. In Hammersmith and Fulham, we have a specific workstream that is about services for young people and adolescents - their needs are different from younger children.
While the origin of trusts does lie in child protection, it's actually perfectly possible to develop trust-type arrangements that don't deal with child protection.
Youth services are not incorporated within the Hammersmith and Fulham trust structure yet. There is a question as to whether the youth service is a universal service or more targeted in its work. The more targeted it is, the more it will need to be interrelated with other services in trusts.
NO - Jennie Butterworth, director of public affairs, Fairbridge
Children's trusts are a positive step towards joined-up working and easily accessible public services for under-19s. However, we are worried that they are primarily aimed at children. The name alone indicates the fact that the Government is increasingly defining "early intervention" as intervention in early years.
The membership of children's trusts must reflect the needs of 13- to 19-year-olds as much as preteens. The voluntary sector must also have a seat at the table: if statutory bodies dominate the trusts, alternative provision will be marginalized. The commissioning role of trusts must be guided by a local strategic plan that is open to wide consultation.
It is also a worry that children's trusts will become the sole youth service funder. As all services are incorporated into one body, an effort to simplify local funding may result in a diminished youth sector that is essentially a quasi-statutory wing of children's trusts.
YES - John Thurlbeck, strategic director, services to young people, FPM
While the green paper, Every Child Matters, appeared very child-focused, the reality of the bill, and the consequential roll-out of children's trusts, has as its prime focus the delivery of a full range of services to children and young people.
If a trust is to have any chance of success, it therefore demands the inclusion of youth work. The youth work sector has a track record of engaging young people from the most disadvantaged backgrounds, alongside engaging the voice of young people. Their inclusion will be vital, especially if the Government is anticipating a full response, across the age range from nought to 19 years, to the five key pillars identified in the green paper.
It is also likely that the level of inclusion will depend on each local structural response to the creation of the trust. However, the extended timescale for their creation now provides ample opportunity for youth work managers to ensure that the trusts really do deal with the young people agendas.
