Tom Wylie, chief executive of The NYA, said: "This paper will create a new platform for work with young people in all our communities. It is a measured document with many positive features, not least the proposals to involve young people in decision-making and the clear duties to be placed on local authorities.
"We have argued for both of these for some time. Indeed, our Hear by Right programme, developed with the Local Government Association, is the leading framework for organisations to use to set standards and improve their active involvement of young people.
"We would though like to see a more thorough treatment of workforce development issues in this paper. It is essential that services for young people are able to recruit and retain enough sufficiently skilled personnel to allow the work to move forwards. Our recent audit of England's local authority youth services, for example, showed, on average, that nationwide there is just one youth worker for each 540 young people. This is not enough.
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