NYA chief defends youth work evidence base

Speaking during the opening session of the inquiry this week, Graham Stuart MP described the attempt to defend the youth sector as "an extraordinary failure".

But Blacke has sought to reinforce the message that a decent evidence base exists and has committed to "bring the tools together" to help councils put a value on youth work interventions.

"The sector, including the NYA, put forward a strong case [at the inquiry] for the value and importance of youth work to society and the potential damage budget reductions will have on young people’s lives," she said. "I honestly believe that failure to invest in targeted and preventative services for young people is an economic time bomb.

"The sector is bursting with qualitative and quantitative evidence about the impact youth work has on young people’s lives. The NYA and others have published research of this kind over many years and the select committee was aware of it.

"The select committee asked why there was no single matrix available that shows 'if you invest X in this kind of youth work intervention you will save Y down the line in health, crime community cohesion etc," added Blacke. "We are now working with partners to bring the tools together to create such a system, which can be used and recognised by councils, and is owned by the sector."

National Council for Voluntary Youth Services (NCVYS) chief executive Susanne Rauprich, who also gave evidence to the inquiry, said: "NCVYS works hard to gather and produce evidence on the benefits voluntary and community organisations deliver for young people. We can point to excellent work done in this field by our members such as the Prince’s Trust.

"In a recent report, its research estimated the cost of youth unemployment to the nation at £155m a week. The Prince’s Trust only requires an investment of £1,000 to take a young person through an intensive course that would take them off jobseeker’s allowance, a fraction of the £5,400 it estimates is spent through standard methods.

"Another of our members, Catch-22, has shown that 90 per cent of its programme entrants who have been involved in crime will not reoffend while working with it."

However, Rauprich added that there are many more organisations whose work goes unmeasured because its effect on the social and emotional development of young people is difficult to quantify. "Measuring impact is complicated and can be expensive. In the evidence hearing, I made reference to the cost of gathering management information.

"While the debate became heavily intertwined with the wider issue of measuring impact, it is important to clarify that the £2m cost cited was for implementing a management information system for the purpose of increasing understanding about the young people the sector supports."

Liam Preston, chair of the BYC, commented: "If the chair wanted to provoke a reaction he succeeded. This is just the start of the debate and there’s still time to influence their recommendations. But let’s get back on track — whether to invest or cut.

"The views of young people are clear, and the evidence BYC presented and quoted from young people was unequivocal — youth services make a difference to us, we value them, we need them to support our participation in society and transition to adulthood. Don’t cut them, not now. Choose youth."

A number of CYP Now readers who have watched the video of the meeting have however raised concerns that the organisations chosen to represent the sector by the committee did not make a strong enough case for the value of youth services during the open evidence session.

Commenting on the CYP Now forum, one said: "The agenda was can you prove that you make any impact above and beyond what can happen without you? The response was a massive fail.

"I'm intrigued to know though, who are the real representatives of those providing services to young people?"