Finally, youth sector receives a boost
Ravi Chandiramani
Monday, November 8, 2010
Given that he spent seven years limbering up for the job in opposition, there was some relief when Tim Loughton was named as a children's minister in the coalition six months ago.
A new minister already familiar with the territory would be a stronger champion of the sector's good work, the thinking went, not least in the area of youth affairs.
But the government's acknowledgement of young people has thus far been negligible. The phrase "young people" (hardly an outlandish one in a forward-thinking society), does not appear once in the coalition agreement. And youth services will have to bear the brunt of the cuts laid out in last month's spending review.
Then, last week, some fruits of that long apprenticeship in opposition started to emerge. Loughton announced at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services conference that youth projects will be the "primary focus" of the estimated £400m funds available from dormant bank accounts. Youth programmes were originally intended to be the key recipients of the funds under the Dormant Bank Act 2008 but David Cameron appeared to dash those hopes in the summer by announcing that the money would finance a wide range of charity projects, rebranding it the Big Society Bank in the process. Loughton claims to have won the battle to ensure most of the funds will benefit young people's projects, national and local.
Resonating with the aims of our longstanding Positive Images campaign, he also pledged to pursue a "positive agenda about young people because they do a hell of a lot of good that goes unnoticed and unrecognised". The young people who spoke at our packed For Youth's Sake debate last week were a thorough vindication of that view.
If Loughton is true to his word, these developments should provide a welcome boost to the sector. The government must now set out its vision for young people and start to take an interest in the youth workforce if it wants the big society to be built to last.
Children's trusts are working
While the government sets about deregulating children's trusts, Ofsted has found they lead to "real change and improvement" for children and families. Regulated or not, the partnerships and joint working resulting from children's trusts have led to pooled budgets, shared senior posts and smarter working all round. As well as being responsive to need, they are the key to delivering more for less.
Ravi Chandiramani, editor, Children & Young People Now