Youth needs must come ahead of political deeds

It is an historic move because it means that youth policy will sit outside the education department for the first time since World War II.

Much more important than historical precedent though is the separation from the education agenda. Many youth work practitioners regard the move as an affront to their professional values as informal educators, and understandably so. In supporting personal development, their work helps young people to achieve at school. It builds confidence and resourcefulness in all young people, particularly those struggling in formal education. Indeed, the links between youth work and schools are the subject of an independent commission launched by the National Youth Agency and chaired by former children’s minister Tim Loughton. He says he has been inundated with schools that value links with youth workers. It supports the view that the DfE is the natural home for youth policy in getting the best outcomes for young people.

The move is therefore very far from ideal. But there has been a shameful hiatus on youth affairs at the DfE since Loughton was ousted in the ministerial reshuffle last September. His successor Edward Timpson was given an impossibly large brief, with the mere matters of special educational needs, adoption, fostering, residential care, child protection, family law and school sport to also contend with. Meanwhile, the DfE has shrunk drastically on all non-schools-related issues, with a loss of civil service experience on youth affairs in the process. On a pragmatic level then, it is good that a different department now appears to at least take young people’s issues seriously.

The Cabinet Office’s stated priorities on youth policy relate to “social action” programmes including the National Citizen Service (of which it already had oversight); youth participation; and promoting “new models of provision”. On the latter, cuts have decimated youth provision in many areas of the country, so new, realistic delivery models cannot come soon enough – whether that involves smarter commissioning, better partnership working or teasing out where need is greatest. The sector needs concrete, usable solutions, not wishy-washy concepts. And while it is encouraging to hear the Cabinet Office assume responsibility for the statutory duty on local authorities for youth provision, it will be interesting to see how it shows its teeth at those councils that wilfully choose to neglect their youth populations.

The Cabinet Office resides at the heart of government with direct links to Downing Street, and that is a big advantage. It has stated it will have “strategic dialogue with young people and youth sector organisations on youth policy”, so this is a chance for the sector to yield serious influence. But in this centrality also lurks a danger, and that is that youth policy becomes deeply politicised less than two years before a general election. We do not need a flurry of headline-friendly initiatives targeted at adult votes. What we do need is a range of effective services for young people who really need them.

ravi.chandiramani@markallengroup.com