The National Youth Agency: Comment - Youth work and health: we know it makes sense

When I was leaving there were about 20 of the staff, mostly young women, standing outside having a cigarette. Given the contradictions and challenges, it is no surprise to hear from Ofsted that local authorities and their partners are still struggling to get to grips with "a number of intractable problems" in the youth health agenda.

This is deep and entrenched territory, with success hard fought but not guaranteed; we know, for example, that teenage pregnancy rates are clearly declining (let's keep remembering and celebrating that), but we also know there is significant variation across the country, both good and, well, not so good. This same Ofsted report, based on the annual performance assessments of 137 councils across England, goes on to tell us that "strategies to address substance misuse, obesity and smoking are not widely effective".