NCVYS STRATEGIC INFORMATION SERVICE BULLETIN NO. 422
16 January 2009
Celebrating Youth - Feasibility Survey
The Department of Children Schools and Families (DCSF) has appointed a consortium of organisations, including NCVYS, to explore how best to re-focus public attention towards the positive contributions young people. The consortium will look at how best to address the negative portrayals of young people in the media through a feasibility study between now and April 2009. As part of this work, we are conducting a survey of practitioners as well as young people, to see what kind of event or format is the most compelling and effective to achieve our aims; and how we can ultimately bridge the widening divide between the young and the 'not so young'. Please take a few minutes to fill in this very important survey! You don't have to register to take part in the survey. For more information on the project, please contact Faiza Chaudary on faiza@ncvys.org.uk or 020 7278 1041.
http://www.celebrateyouth.org.uk/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fAuthenticatedPages%2fHome.aspx
Your Ideas = free vouchers and pizza!
As part of the Celebrating Youth initiative, we're also looking for young people to come to one of three workshops where they will share their ideas and help come up with a national campaign that celebrates young people. As a thank you for their contribution we will give out £15 music vouchers and pizza will be provided. The workshops will take place on 22 January in Manchester (4-8pm), 28 January in Leeds (4-8pm) and 31 January in Brighton (12-4pm). Please contact Pricilla Baffour on pricillab@mediatrust.org or 020 7217 3424 to book your place. Places are limited but everyone will be able to have their say via the online survey.
http://www.celebrateyouth.org.uk/Login.aspx?ReturnUrl=%2fAuthenticatedPages%2fHome.aspx
New Opportunities
The Government has published a new White Paper - New Opportunities: Fair chances for the future, which sets out the Government's agenda on social mobility. Proposals include: £57m to extend free childcare for disadvantaged two year olds; £10k bonuses to retain effective teachers in schools where they are most needed; support for high potential young people from low income backgrounds to get to university; a community volunteering programme for NEETs; employment support for young people leaving care; and an £15m communities fund to tackle deprivation.
http://www.hmg.gov.uk/newopportunities.aspx
Social Mobility Commission's report
A report has also been published by the Independent Social Mobility Commission, set up by Liberal Democrat Leader Nick Clegg and chaired by Barnardo's Chief Executive Martin Narey. This report has found that a child's life chances are ‘dependent on the background and earnings of its parents'. The commission's report also found that increased education funding has failed to reach those children most in need.
http://www.libdems.org.uk/home/children%E2%80%99s-life-chances-still-tied-to-the-circumstances-of-their-birth-clegg-123335373;show
Speaking Out Regional Events
Following the success of our recent national conference for Speaking Out held in December (conference report to follow soon on the NCVYS website), NCVYS is now planning a series of Speaking Out Regional Events in partnership with Children England. These will include a roundtable event on Crime and Young People in London on 26 February at the NCVYS office, and an event on Social Mobility to take place on 3 March in the Eastern Region (venue to be confirmed). Information will be available on the NCVYS website shortly. To register interest, email speakingout@ncvys.org.uk.
http://www.ncvys.org.uk/index.php?page=256
New youth Ambassador
The Mayor of London, Boris Johnson has announced that James Cleverly will replace Ray Lewis as the new Ambassador for young people. Cleverly, who has previously worked with young people in the Army and is honorary vice president of the Bromley District Scout Council, will co-ordinate the work of the police and the London Development Agency in tackling youth crime.
http://www.london.gov.uk/view_press_release.jsp?releaseid=20417
Lead Member Roles and Responsibilities
The DCSF is consulting on draft revised Statutory Guidance: The Roles and Responsibilities of the Lead Member for Children's Services and the Director of Children's Services. NCVYS would like members' views to inform a response to the DCSF and has issued a short questionnaire available online. Responses are requested by 30 January 2009.
http://www.ncvys.org.uk/blogs.php?act=view_topic&id=93
Third sector businesses
Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne, has confirmed that the package of measures unveiled by Business Secretary Lord Mandelson designed to address the cash flow, credit and investment needs of small and medium businesses is available to social enterprises and third sector businesses. Measures include: a £10bn Working Capital Scheme, securing up to £20bn of short term bank lending to companies with a turnover of up to £500m; an Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, securing up to £1.3bn of additional bank loans to small firms with a turnover of up to £25m; and a £75m Capital for Enterprise Fund to invest in small businesses which need equity.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/090114_berr.aspx
Third Sector Research - Call for Evidence
The Third Sector Research Centre (TSRC), is currently involved in undertaking a scoping study and literature review on 'below the radar' organisations - namely small BME, Refugee/Migrant organisations and community groups who do not often appear in either the academic or practitioner journals. Researchers are particularly keen to access locally generated research materials which will be critical to understanding the role played by such groups and their relationships with Local Government and policy makers. These may be feasibility studies, research/evaluation reports or policy papers produced by Local Authorities but which do not necessarily become public domain in terms of publication or web-access. Please direct any reports or papers to Angus McCabe (A.J.McCabe@bham.ac.uk) or Jenny Phillimore (J.A.Phillimore@bham.ac.uk) or call 0121 415 8561.
Prioritising third sector
The Improvement and Development Agency (IDeA) is holding a free workshop on 12 February 2009 for authorities which have included one of the indicators linked to the Third Sector in their Local Area Agreement (LAA). The event is aimed at senior and corporate staff working on the delivery of the cross-agency Third Sector agenda.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/090115_events.aspx
Training for DCSs
As set out in the 2020 Workforce Strategy, the DCSF has published details of the leadership programme aimed at Directors of Children's Services to start in autumn. The programme's development will be led by the National College for School Leadership with support from the Association of Directors of Children's Services and the Children's Workforce Development Council.
http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/pns/DisplayPN.cgi?pn_id=2009_0004
Community sports funding
£3.835m for Premier League 4 Sport is being invested through the Department for Culture, Media and Sport from the Premier League's Good Causes fund. Working with the Youth Sport Trust and Sport England, the Premier League clubs will link up with local community sport clubs to help attract young people in their local area and offer them opportunities in badminton, judo, table tennis and volleyball.
http://www.culture.gov.uk/reference_library/media_releases/5748.aspx
Accelerating grant decisions
The European Parliament and the Council have amended the legal basis of the Lifelong Learning Programme, the Culture programme, the Youth in Action programme, the Europe for Citizens programme and the Erasmus Mundus programme so that decisions on the selection of projects can be put in practice more quickly and efficiently.
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1354_en.htm
Careers proposals
At an education conference in the North of England this week, Shadow Innovation, Universities and Skills Secretary David Willetts said that the Conservative Party would introduce a £180m independent careers service for schools as well as a database to help apprentices who lose their jobs in the recession and publish the outcomes of graduates from different universities to give potential students more information.
http://www.cypnow.co.uk/news/ByDiscipline/Education/872399/Conservatives-propose-multi-million-pound-careers-service/
Licensing system
The Office of the Third Sector is inviting tenders to carry out independent research into the licensing system for public charitable collections (PCC). The purpose of the research project will be to assess the costs and benefits of the new licensing scheme compared to the existing system; inform the developmental and design phase for the PCC provisions in Charities Act 2006; and identify how best to produce cost-effective, risk-based and proportionate regulation of PCCs. All tenders must be submitted by Noon 16 February 2009.
http://www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/third_sector/news/news_stories/090112_tender.aspx
Youth in Action priorities
The Youth in Action Programme priorities for 2009 have now been set and can be viewed online. Youth in Action is the EU Programme for young people aged 15-28 (in some cases 13-30) from all EU members, which supports a variety of activities for young people and youth workers with a total budget of 885 million euro for 2007-2013. It aims to inspire a sense of active citizenship, solidarity and tolerance among young Europeans and to involve them in shaping the Union's future.
http://ec.europa.eu/youth/news/news1336_en.htm
Young runaways indicator
In January 2008, the Secretary of State, Ed Balls, announced there would be an indicator relating to young runaways included in the National Indicator Set from April 2009. The indicator will measure local areas performance in responding to the needs of young runaways, and has been introduced to raise local area awareness of the needs of runaways and to create a focus on the provision of services to this vulnerable group of young people.
http://www.everychildmatters.gov.uk/socialcare/safeguarding/youngrunaways/
Youth-led Innovation
NESTA - the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts - has published a draft report of a research project on Developing a typology of youth-led innovation and its potential economic and social impact, undertaken by a team at the University of Sussex. It includes a literature review as well as initial thoughts on a possible framework of youth-led innovation and ideas about how this may be promoted in the future. Comments and feedback are welcomed.
http://www.nesta.org.uk/developing-a-typology-of-youth-led-innovation/
Crime abroad
The Policy Exchange has published case studies on tackling gun and knife crime using examples from abroad. The document Getting to the point - Reducing gun and knife crime in Britain: lessons from abroad - makes a series of recommendations which stress better partnership working and information sharing, and require a far stronger system of accountability across the criminal justice system.
http://www.policyexchange.org.uk/Publications.aspx?id=767
Defending local grants
As part of the Local Grants Forum establish in 2007, National Association for Voluntary and Community Action (NAVCA) has published Defending Local Grants: Resources you can use, a list of resources to help voluntary and community organisations convince councillors, commissioning officers and procurement professionals at local level that grants should continue to be used to fund local organisations and groups.
http://www.navca.org.uk/publications/defendinggrants
Mental health of young carers
Through the MyCare programme, the Mental Health Foundation and the Princess Royal Trust for Carers are conducting research into the mental health of children and young people aged 10-21 who care for a parent with a severe and enduring mental illness in England, Wales, and Scotland. The research will investigate the experiences and needs of these children and young people, specifically examining how age, gender, and culture affect their perceptions of caring, resilience, and coping strategies. A survey has been launched and an information event is being advertised on the website:
http://www.mentalhealth.org.uk/mycare/
Legal education for young people
The Public Legal Education Network has published a paper aiming to improve understanding of the need for and value of public legal education amongst young people. The evidence of young people's lack of awareness of legal rights and processes contrasts with the increased likelihood of experiencing a wide range of law-related events for which they often do not get help. The findings indicate an urgent need to improve the quantity and quality of public legal education available as a key to improving life-chances and ensuring access to justice.
http://www.plenet.org.uk/research-and-theory/
Legal Empowerment conference
The Public Legal Education Network is running its first national conference on 23 February 2009 with the theme of Legal Empowerment. The conference will look at the wide range of PLE initiatives, and discuss research into needs of public legal education for young people and marginalised groups, advice services, the role of pro bono work and international perspectives.
http://www.plenet.org.uk/the-legal-empowerment-conference,10066,FP.html
BME Third Sector
Voice4Change England has published two documents to evidence the vital contribution of BME Third Sector organisations to the health of people and communities. Evidencing the value of the BME Third Sector provides case studies of frontline services that play a wider role in community cohesion and Valuing the BME Third Sector provides an overview of V4CE's work in advocating the policy concerns of BME Third Sector organisations to government and funding bodies.
http://www.voice4change-england.co.uk/case_studies_release.html
EHRC funding consultation
This is a reminder to all members who wish to contribute to NCVYS's response to the Equality and Human Rights Commission's Grants Programme consultation: please send your comments on the proposals to ilona@ncvys.org.uk no later than Friday 23 January 2009. To access the consultation document and questions: http://www.equalityhumanrights.com/en/policyresearch/consultations/pages/consultnov08.aspx
YSDF 3rd round reminder
This is a reminder that the deadline for submitting an interest in the 3rd Round of the Youth Sector Development Fund (YSDF) is noon on Friday 23 January 2009.
http://ysdf.ecotec.com
Community cohesion briefing
Following the publication of the three community cohesion documents last week by Communities and Local Government (CLG), NCVYS has produced a briefing paper focusing on the implications for the voluntary youth sector.
http://www.ncvys.org.uk/index.php?page=361
Response to Lord Laming
In response to a request for information from Lord Laming as part of the stock take on safeguarding progress following the Baby P case in November 2008, NCVYS gave information on behalf of the voluntary youth sector showcasing examples of practice on safeguarding from the sector as well as a series of recommendations.
http://www.ncvys.org.uk/index.php?page=270
Impact of recession
What are the biggest challenges for the voluntary youth sector considering the current economic climate from your perspective? How do you see this impacting on your work? NCVYS is collecting information on the voluntary youth sector's experiences of the recession and we would very much value your feedback. This will help us to influence policy development more effectively. Please send any comments to ilona@ncvys.org.uk or contact the Policy Team on 020 7278 1041 to discuss these matters further.
Link Up: Invitation to Tender reminder
This is a reminder that NCVYS's invitation to tender for the Link Up project closes on Friday 30 January 2009. Through its diversity work and Factor in Faith programme, NCVYS has identified that many organisations working with young people from BME and faith backgrounds have found it difficult to access support and information available to other voluntary and community organisations. Therefore we are looking for three partners who will help to address this situation in different localities in England. These pilots will explore how strategic interventions can be made that will improve the context for organisations working with young people from BME and faith communities.
http://www.ncvys.org.uk/blogs.php?act=view_topic&id=89
VCS participation in LAAs
The IDeA has published a new case study on the involvement of Southend Association of Voluntary Services (SAVS) in the planning of the Local Area Agreement with statutory partners. The aim was to ensure that the VCS and, through it, local people were at the heart of the development and delivery of the LAA.
http://www.idea.gov.uk/idk/core/page.do?pageId=9274523&aspect=full
THIS WEEK IN PARLIAMENT
Health Bill 2009
The Health Bill was introduced into Parliament this week. It proposes measures to improve the quality of NHS care, the performance of NHS services, and to improve public health. The Bill includes provisions aimed to help reduce the impact of tobacco on health and well-being of children and young people from the harm caused by smoking by restricting the display of tobacco products and controlling the sale of tobacco from vending machines.
http://www.dh.gov.uk/en/Publicationsandstatistics/Legislation/Actsandbills/DH_093280
Children's Rights: Call for Evidence
The Joint Committee on Human Rights is undertaking a short inquiry on children's rights in relation to the recent concluding observations of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child on the UK as well as several Reports of the Joint Committee, including those on the Use of Restraint in Secure Training Centres and the Treatment of Asylum Seekers. Interested persons and bodies are invited to submit written evidence for consideration by the Committee by Friday 13 February.
http://www.parliament.uk/parliamentary_committees/joint_committee_on_human_rights/jchrpn03_171208.cfm
Youth Projects
Following a question by Tim Loughton (Con, East Worthing and Shoreham), Third Sector Minister, Kevin Brennan gave information on what the Government is doing to enable volunteers to get engaged in youth projects by citing the recent announcement of the new Volunteer Fund and other initiatives. CRB checks were also discussed.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090114/debtext/90114-0002.htm#09011438000021
Local Government: Children's Services
Baroness Shephard of Northwold led a debate in the House of Lords on the functioning of children's services departments in local authorities.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/ld200809/ldhansrd/text/90115-0002.htm#090115105000834
Social Mobility
The Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne led a debate in the House of Commons on the new White Paper on social mobility - New Opportunities.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090114/debtext/90114-0002.htm#09011438000020
Charities
Following a question by Angela Watkinson (Con, Upminster) on the Government's support for the third sector during the economic downturn, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, Liam Byrne answered questions on the sector's potential as an employer and why the sector was not represented at the recent jobs summit.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090114/debtext/90114-0001.htm#09011438000017
Early Intervention (Finance)
Graham Allen (Lab, Nottingham, North) led a debate in the Houses of Parliament on early intervention finance.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmhansrd/cm090113/halltext/90113h0001.htm#09011363000001
Re-skilling rather than up-skilling
In its report examining the impact of Lord Leitch's 2006 review of skills, the House of Commons Innovation, Universities, Science and Skills Committee says that re-skilling rather than up-skilling should be the priority as redundancies force people to move to other sectors.
http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200809/cmselect/cmdius/48/4802.htm |
