Councils ‘must re-build youth services'

David Simmonds, chair of the Local Government Association’s children and young people board, said the loss of Tim Loughton as children’s minister has resulted in things going “very quiet” on youth services from central government, less than a year after the publication of Positive for Youth.

“There have been big changes with ministers, as we know,” Simmonds told delegates at the Confederation of Heads of Young People’s Services (Chyps) convention in Sheffield.

“There was quite a strong focus on youth issues from Tim Loughton. We now have a new minister with some very big [legislative] bills. It feels to me that the government has lost its focus [on youth services].

Simmonds said it is down to local authorities to seize the agenda and “re-build” services for young people.

“I’m not a member of the government and I can’t speak for or against its attitudes or actions but if you look at the way it has put together target-driven, central programmes, such as the National Citizen Service, it’s pretty clear that government in Whitehall is not good at identifying what will help young people flourish at a local level,” he said. “That’s where local authorities come in.”

Last month the new children’s minister Edward Timpson denied that youth services would play “second fiddle” to the rest of his ministerial responsibilities.

Speaking at the Chyps convention, a DfE official said Timpson is keen to use a report on the first year of Positive for Youth to highlight emerging best practice in the sector.

Olivia McLeod, director of the Department for Education’s supporting delivery group said: “The minister wants to use it to show us the best of what’s happening. It is a call to action to raise the level to that of the best to show what’s possible despite the challenges.

“Through the publication, and visits and speeches, he wants to draw attention to the great work that is happening.”