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AGENDA ITEM *

MAIDSTONE LOCALITY BOARD

 

Proposal for Transformation of Youth Services in Maidstone

Nigel Baker, Head of Integrated Youth Services, Kent County Council

14 March 2012

 

Key Messages   ·                The Youth Service Transformation is intended to continue the delivery of open access youth work activities, primarily for Kent’s 13-19 year olds, offering fun, challenging activities which develop young people’s capabilities through a process of informal education.   ·                Whilst spaces in which youth work is delivered are important, the outcomes which youth work delivers to support young people in making a positive transition from childhood to adulthood far outweigh where the work is delivered.   ·                The Transformation aims to encourage and enable the development of local providers to deliver youth work services within their communities and Kent County Council will continue to be a direct provider of youth work to support young people whilst also building capacity with local providers.   ·                Although Kent County Council delivery is an important part of local youth work provision, a wealth of activities are delivered by a broad sector of providers within the voluntary and community sector included uniformed organisations, faith groups and community youth provision.

1.0       Introduction

 

1.1        A public consultation into the delivery of youth work activities in Kent was held between August and October 2011 and as a result of this consultation and meetings with Locality Boards (or their equivalent) in late 2011, the KCC Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities took a preliminary key decision on the future of youth work provision in January 2012.

 

1.2        The Cabinet Member’s key decision was to continue to meet the statutory duty for the provision of education and recreational leisure time activities (youth work) through the continuation of a core offer of open access youth work delivered by KCC, augmented by an increased level of services commissioned from local voluntary and community groups. The new model of service provision will commence in January 2013.

 

1.3        The specific details of the provision to be delivered by KCC and the priorities for commissioned youth work are to be agreed by the Locality Board (or its equivalent), supported by relevant KCC and local officers to ensure the model is guided and informed by local decision making.

 

1.4        KCC’s Cabinet Member will review these agreed details and look to incorporate them in a further key decision in April 2012. Detailed work on implementation of the new model will then commence.

 

2.0       Methodology

 

2.1       In order to present a local specification for youth work, it has been necessary to take into consideration the local demography of the young people aged 13-19 at whom these youth work services will be primarily targeted, in accordance with national guidance due to be published by the Department for Education.  This includes understanding the picture of where young people live and also the relative levels of need and vulnerability amongst this group.

 

2.2       A needs analysis for youth work has been carried out using existing data sets and analysis, key information to inform this process has been taken from the Joint Strategic Needs Assessment for Children and Young People in Kent (January 2010) and the Local Children’s Trust Boards Needs Assessments.

 

2.3       Key local plans have been taken into account such as the Local Children’s Trust Board Children & Young People’s Plan 2011-14 which has been used to inform suggested thematic, geographical and/or demographic priorities for commissioning youth work.

 

2.4       An Equality Impact Assessment has been carried out, aided by independent research from the University of Glasgow. The outcomes of the assessment have been developed into an action plan which informs the provision of youth work activities in each District/Borough, ensuring that young people with protected characteristics under the Equality Act receive appropriate levels of service.

 

3.0       The Local Youth Offer

 

3.1       The provision of youth work activities in this district comprises a number of key elements:

 

KCC Direct Delivery via:

 

-        a building base

-        a school-based community youth tutor

-        street based work

-        county services, incorporating the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Kent Youth County Council and Outdoor Education

         

          Commissioned Delivery via:

 

-        local youth work activities from a range of local providers

-        infrastructure activities to support pan-county voluntary and community sector delivery

 

3.2       The direct KCC delivery is proposed to be as described in Appendix A with the building based delivery at the InfoZone Youth Centre, a Community Youth Tutor [location to be confirmed], and street-based provision working alongside the Community Safety Unit within Maidstone Borough Council.

 

3.3       The key themes highlighted for commissioned delivery are expanded upon in the proposed specification in Appendix B and include the provision of youth work in Maidstone, the specific targeting of work with young people from Black & Minority Ethnic communities, including young travellers, young disabled people, young Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual or Transgender people. The importance of working with these groups has been highlighted through the Equality Impact Assessment process.

 

3.4        The local offer as agreed by Maidstone Locality Board will be taken forward to the KCC Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities in order to receive a formal decision to proceed with a commissioning framework in April 2012.

 

4.0    Recommendations

 

4.1        The Maidstone Locality Board is asked to consider the presented demographic and thematic information and the attached Appendix A and agree the allocation of the KCC direct delivery of youth work within the Borough.

 

4.2        The Maidstone Locality Board is asked to consider and discuss the attached Appendix B and the proposed specification for youth work activities, and endorse this approach to the commissioning of services at a local level.

 

4.3        The Maidstone Locality Board is asked to nominate an appropriate local lead officer to support a joint approach to the commissioning of services at a local level.

 

4.4        The Maidstone Locality Board agrees to receive regular progress reports on the commissioning process at future meetings.

 

 

 

 

Appendix A: 

 

The Local Youth Work Offer:  Maidstone

 

The provision of youth work activities within Maidstone Borough will be met by the delivery of four key elements of delivery, which are intended to complement each other and provide an open-access level of service primarily for those young people aged 13-19, with additional services for those who may be more vulnerable or in need of extra support.  The four elements are proposed as follows:

 

1.      KCC Professional Youth Work Delivery:

 

·                     A building base for KCC staff within Maidstone to be maintained at the InfoZone Youth Centre, delivering both youth work activities and acting as a location for a range of other services to young people as required locally.  This will specifically need to take into account supporting and working alongside the Switch Cafe within Maidstone Town Centre. InfoZone Youth Centre will be the location for the Senior Youth Work Practitioner for Maidstone and therefore form a local point of contact for support and training for other youth work providers in the area.

 

·                     A Community Youth Tutor will operate within a Maidstone school to be identified and deliver a range of youth work activities within the school as well as in the local community during the evenings and weekends.

 

·                     The Maidstone Street-Based Project will operate alongside the Borough’s Community Safety Unit, offering a range of youth work activities to contribute to positive behaviour amongst young people. 

 

2.      KCC County Services:

 

·                     Acting as the Operating Authority for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, ensuring opportunities at a District/Borough level for young people to engage in personal development.

 

·                     Youth Participation activities including the delivery of Kent Youth County Council with elections held regularly at a local level.

 

·                     Outdoor Education facilities in Kent, Wales and Belgium offering challenging outdoor learning opportunities for Kent’s young people.

 

·                     Quality Assurance, curriculum development and training opportunities for KCC staff and other providers to ensure the ongoing delivery of high quality youth work activities across Kent.

 

3.      Commissioned Youth Work Activities:

 

·                     A range of youth work activities commissioned from local providers to meet the outcomes as described in the ‘Outcomes for Youth Work in Maidstone’ document (see Appendix B).  Activities will be commissioned to a total value of Ł138,000 per annum for an initial 3 year period.

 

·                     Through the use of a Dynamic Purchasing System which allows new providers to enter into a framework agreement which remains open and is designed to create a level playing field for small organisations to compete at a local level.  This commissioning will enable a flexible response to using local providers to meet local needs.

 

·                     New and existing voluntary sector providers have been and will continue to be offered a broad range of capacity building support in order to increase their chances of entering the Dynamic Purchasing Agreement.

 

4.      Commissioned Infrastructure Support:

 

·                     The Kent-wide commissioning of support to local youth work providers and emerging voluntary sector organisations.  This ensures the continued work of the many small local organisations (such as uniformed, community and faith groups) which individually do not need KCC funding to operate but do require access to training, Criminal Records Bureau checks and support delivered by county infrastructure organisations.

 

·                     Infrastructure organisations will offer support to local groups (whether commissioned or not) and include a significant level of support to small and uniformed organisations which make up a large part of the local youth work offer as can be seen on the maps provided.

Appendix B:  Outcomes for Youth Work in Maidstone

 

The aim of youth work is to enable young people to develop the capabilities which will support them in making positive transitions from childhood to adulthood.  These capabilities include the ability to communicate effectively, develop self-confidence and resilience, learn to manage their feelings & relationships well, and develop creativity and problem solving skills.

 

Local providers will be sought to deliver youth work activities which meet the outcomes described by working to the youth work principles below and contribute to the geographic and thematic priorities which have been identified through local needs assessment, strategic plans and responses to the Youth Service Transformation consultation:

 

Key local priorities for Maidstone include:

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities including positive activities, information and advice and intervention within the South Maidstone communities of Shepway and Park Wood.  This could involve the use of the current Shepway Youth Centre facilities if suitable providers are able to evidence meeting young peoples outcomes through the use of these premises;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities including positive activities, information and advice and intervention within to support young people in isolated and rural areas of Maidstone;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities including positive activities, information and advice and intervention within to support young people in Lenham;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities which contribute to the achievement of relevant sections of the Local Children’s Trust Plan 2011-14.

 

Principles of Youth Work:

 

There is an expectation that all youth work delivered across Kent whether commissioned or directly delivered by KCC staff will meet the following criteria and contribute to the outcomes expected for young people.

 

All youth work should:

 

·          be inclusive; offering an equality of access for young people regardless of gender, ethnicity, sexual identity and/or disability;

·          offer challenging, fun activities which allow for young people to engage in informal education, develop positive relationships and increase personal and social skills;

·          deliver a broad curriculum of activities including (but not exclusively) healthy choices, participation, challenging prejudice, creativity and information and guidance;

·          offer the opportunity for young people to gather and socialise in safe spaces during evenings and weekends;

·          ideally be delivered in dedicated young people’s spaces or spaces over which young people have shared ownership;

·          develop the participation of young people, involving them in the design, delivery and evaluation of services;

·          promote positive relationships between young people and the wider community;

·          include access to a range of challenging outdoor education and residential activities to provide key life milestones and opportunities for developing confidence, new skills and interpersonal relationships;

·          contribute to a preventative agenda which recognises young people who are more vulnerable and offers pathways to additional support where required;

·          celebrate young people’s achievements and offer routes for the local and national recognition of young people’s learning through award schemes.

 

Equalities Priorities for Commissioning:

 

An equality impact assessment for the Youth Service Transformation has been undertaken as a result of which the following priorities will need to be considered across Kent:

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities to support young people from traveller communities, these should include specific provision and ensuring open access provision is inclusive of this group;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities to support young people who are Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and/or Transgender, these should include specific provision and ensuring open access provision is inclusive of this group;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities to support young people from black & minority ethnic communities, these should include specific provision and ensuring open access provision is inclusive of this group;

 

·          the delivery of youth work activities to support disabled  young people, these should include specific provision and ensuring open access provision is inclusive of this group;