The Backstop Journals » Prevention & youth work

Lambeth Council could cut funding for youth charities by 35 per cent

Backstop — Mon, 26 Jul 2010 08:13:05 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that Lambeth Council is considering cutting its funding for charities involved in young people’s projects by up to 35 per cent from January, a move that comes as the council looks to cut its total spending by around £82m over the next four years.

A consultation into the voluntary sector funding cuts is to take place. It is expected that where funding remains, some charities may have to reapply for contracts with renegotiated terms.

A spokesman for the council said that it was “committed to keeping any reductions to an absolute minimum”.

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UK Youth Parliament members to hold annual debates in House of Commons

Backstop — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 09:53:10 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that members of the UK Youth Parliament have been given the green light to stage a debate in the House of Commons annually. MPs voted 499 to 21 to allow the UK Youth Parliament to use the chamber each year until the next general election. Andy Hamflett, UK Youth Parliament chief executive, said: “By allowing members of the Youth Parliament to debate inside the House of Commons chamber, it sends out an inspiring message to hundreds of thousands of young people, letting them know that they are valued and that society does want to hear what they have to say.”

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Johnson prioritises youth projects in London

Backstop — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 08:51:06 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that the mayor of London Boris Johnson has highlighted participation and volunteering opportunities for young people, and youth crime prevention as priorities.

In his Renewed Agenda for Children and Young People report, Boris Johnson commits to promoting volunteering in uniformed and non-uniformed youth organisations, including a targeted pilot project aimed at establishing uniformed youth groups in areas suffering from the impacts of serious youth violence.

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Youth services told to improve

Backstop — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 09:15:08 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that local authorities are failing to utilise and support the voluntary sector in delivering effective youth services, says an Ofsted evaluation.

The watchdog evaluated integrated youth support services in 11 local authorities and published the findings in Supporting Young People.

“Even in the better performing areas, progress in commissioning provision from the private, voluntary and public sectors was slow,” the report claimed.

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Public should be trained to deal with anti-social behaviour, says report

Backstop — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 09:57:43 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that the Royal Society of Arts has released a report saying that residents, youth workers, volunteers and public sector workers should play a greater role in tackling anti-social behaviour and local policing. The report argues that Britain is perceived to have some of the highest levels of anti-social behaviour in Europe, with the public seeing the main cause of the problem as young people.

The report states: “While public concern for low-level disorder remains high, citizens have, for a number of reasons, withdrawn from day-to-day intervention. At the same time, policy has tended to focus on top-down, professionally centred approaches to tackling the problem.

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Ministers back pilot therapy programme for young offenders

Backstop — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 10:47:51 +0000

The Guardian reports that a scheme to keep challenging young people out of care or prison through intensive family support won the backing of government ministers yesterday who said it might offer a cost-effective way to deal with antisocial behaviour. Ten pilot projects of multisystemic therapy (MST) are underway across the UK, a conference in London heard. The government has funded the trial, which will involve 700 families, in four London boroughs – Barnsley, Hackney, Greenwich and Merton – plus Leeds, Peterborough, Plymouth, Reading, Sheffield and Trafford. There have been successful programmes in the United States, but the pilots are designed to see how well it works in the UK.

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El Sistema in Britain: social projects, with strings attached

Backstop — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 11:07:57 +0000

The Guardian features a story about the Venezhuelan social project El Sistema, which encourages disadvantaged children to play the violin. It speaks about El Sistema and equivalent projects in the UK, and how the unique teaching methods help children in their social development.

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Report highlights inconsistencies in assessments of young offenders affected by alcohol misuse

Backstop — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:20:00 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that there are ‘too many inconsistencies in the way youth offending teams (YOTs) across England and Wales assess the needs of young offenders affected by alcohol misuse’, according to a joint inspection report. Inspectors from HM Inspectorate of Probation, the Care Quality Commission and Healthcare Inspectorate Wales and Estyn found that while most YOTs have made progress towards identifying and meeting the needs of young offenders affected by alcohol consumption, alcohol-related assessments were only deemed to be of a good quality in half of the cases examined.

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Emergency Budget: Osborne omits measures to reduce youth unemployment

Backstop — Tue, 22 Jun 2010 15:32:29 +0000

Children & Young People Now reports that chancellor George Osborne neglected to announce specific measures to tackle youth unemployment in his emergency Budget, while spending at the Department for Education (DfE) looks set to fall by up to a quarter over the next four years.

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The teenager who has gone from antisocial to outstanding behaviour

Backstop — Wed, 16 Jun 2010 10:31:29 +0000

The Guardian tells the story of teenager Zara Fredericks who, at 13, received an asbo because she was out of control. Now 19, she has changed her life and won an Outstanding Social Behaviour Award.

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