Staffordshire County Council has defended its proposals to radically change youth services in the county and urged young people in Stone to take part in the consultation that ends on 26th February.
The county issued this press release yesterday…
Staffordshire County Council is calling on more people to give their views on a proposed change to the way youth services are provided locally.
People have until 26th February to make their views known on a new approach that could see the county council move away from a traditional youth service. Instead support would be targeted at those young people in greatest need of help, while the county council would work closer with schools and colleges, voluntary and community groups to provide a wider range of opportunities for all young people in their communities.
Under the proposal, support would continue for the Duke of Edinburgh, Bremen Exchange, V-Talent Contract and National Citizenship Schemes, which all help to increase young people’s employability, and social and life skills.
The county council is particularly keen to hear from the four out of five young people in Staffordshire who do not currently use its youth services, to understand why and the issues they consider to be important to them. It has noted a similar approach by Northamptonshire County Council which has seen participation in youth activities increase since changes were introduced.
Staffordshire’s youth services cover young people aged 13 to 19, or 25 years for those with a learning difficulty or disability. Currently, the county council provides a traditional universal open access service; however, four out of five of the 73,315 young people in Staffordshire did not use the service in the last year, which cost £8.73m to provide.
Mark Sutton, Cabinet Support Member for Public Health and Community Safety on Staffordshire County Council, said: “We want young people across Staffordshire to lead the lives they want, get the most out of school and find a good job. The county council is one of a huge number of organisations from schools and colleges to sports clubs and voluntary groups, who work with young people to help them get work and life ready.
“We know that the young people and families who use it value the youth service. However, we need to keep examining everything we do to see if we can do things better and get the maximum impact from every penny of taxpayers money we spend.
“Four out of every five young people in Staffordshire never use a county council-funded youth facility or take part in an activity we pay for. We want to find out why and we need to make sure they get more out of what they enjoy already and have what they need to move successfully from school into work and into the good life they want.
“For us that means looking at new ways of working, better working with partners, and recognising that other organisations, for instance in the voluntary or community sector, are sometimes better placed and more able to do the things that young people want and need.
“There is already some great work for young people being delivered by the voluntary, community, public and private sectors – we need to build on that, make it even better and focus even more on the things young people say they want. This consultation gives young people and others across the county the opportunity to have their voices heard, and tell us what they need in their local community.
“By working on a local, district level with the right people and organisations, we can ensure that young people will have targeted and tailored support necessary to achieve their full potential. This is what achieving excellence for young people really means.
“We want the results of the consultation to be truly representative so I urge people to have their say before the 26th February deadline.”
Take part in the consultation at www.staffordshire.gov.uk/consultation A paper version can be obtained by calling 0300 111 8000.
Campaigners against the youth service changes will be in Stone on
Saturday 15th February – more information HERE
You can also read a guest post arguing against the changes HERE
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