NYA Update: Local Government Group

Members of the National Youth Agency's Supporting Services for Young People Community of Practice put Peter Mucklow, the Department for Education's deputy director of young people, in the hotseat about the impending Positive for Youth Strategy at a recent online event.

The discussion was kick-started by National Youth Agency head of policy Alex Stutz, who asked Peter what the department felt were the main challenges facing national and local government policymakers in the sector.

"Plenty," responded Peter, "but my top one would be to persuade decision makers who hold budgets that they can be confident that out-of-school and college services to young people really make a difference to the lives and outcomes for the young people who need them most - who may not have good experiences at home or in school."

Questions were then received on how this could be best achieved: "Raving fans are always good influencers - not only adults who as young people benefited from services, but also businesses and educational institutions who can testify to the changes in young people's lives.

"We also need hard analytical evidence, and that's why we are evaluating the National Citizen Service very rigorously and if it shows an intensive personal and social development opportunity and makes a real difference that will be evidence the whole sector can stand on, because it will apply in principle to other interventions. But we'll have to wait and see."

The discussion then turned to the recent disorder across England and whether this would have an impact on the shape of the forthcoming Positive for Youth strategy.

"I think ministers have been clear that the criminal behaviour we saw is not typical of young people. We want to do all we can to publicise the good qualities we see in the vast majority of young people and establish this as the social norm. I've met a lot of young people in visits I've done recently and it's great to be around them and we can do more to enable adults including older adults to see their qualities.

"The department is awarding a grant which will include funding to ensure there are trained youth spokespeople available at national level to ensure the voices of young people can be heard in the media. So you won't suddenly see a change in government policy, but we do have to face up to the fact that some young people are living outside our norms and having a negative influence on others, especially other young people, and look harder at prevention."

The full discussion is available to read on the free Supporting Services for Young People Community of Practice website, which has been set up by the National Youth Agency as part of its programme of work with the Local Government Group to provide a doorway to the Routes to Success programme - a programme designed to support local authority strategic managers through the changes in youth services.

For further information visit www.nya.org.uk/routes-to-success or join the community at http://bit.ly/oqTpwW

Masterclasses to support local authorities' commissioning of young people's services.

The National Youth Agency, as part of its work with the Local Government Group, is running a series of masterclasses to support strategic managers and elected members in commissioning services for young people.

The one-day events are being run as part of the Agency's programme of work with the Local Government Group.

The next event will be held in Birmingham on 5 October 2011 and will provide local authority strategic managers and commissioners with the opportunity to trial the National Youth Agency's Commissioning Guidance Toolkit - A Practical Guide to Commissioning Services for Young People.

This is a repeat of the very successful workshop held in London earlier this year. Skills explored during this event will include creating an outcomes-based specification, market analysis and options appraisal and decommissioning.

Another event will be held on 11 October 2011 in London and is being run specifically for elected members and their officers to support them in playing an active role in commissioning youth services together.

Topics covered will include: the role of elected members in commissioning; governance and scrutiny; their duty under the Local Government Act 1999 and working effectively with and supporting officers and senior managers.

Elected members are encouraged to attend with a key officer with whom they are working on a commissioning or decommissioning issue.

For further details and to book your free place visit www.nya.org.uk/events.