To inform Members of the working relationship with the voluntary and community youth work sector and Herefordshire Council Youth Service.

Members were informed of the working relationship between the voluntary and community sector and Herefordshire Council’s Community Youth Service (CYS).

The Community Youth Service Manager began his presentation by reminding the Committee that in 1998 an external survey by De Montefort University had described the CYS as inadequate and that the local authority was failing in its duty to secure adequate provision for young people. The recommendations that the review suggested had been implemented.  These had included the commencement of new partnership arrangements with the voluntary and community sector through the Youth Consortium.

In October 2005 the CYS had been assessed as part of the Joint Area Review (JAR) of Services for Children and Young People by Ofsted.  The JAR report concluded that improvements had been made across all areas with the exception of ‘curriculum and resources’.  The report commented that: ‘there were insufficient staff and resources to provide a consistently high quality and broad curriculum’.  Overall the service was rated as ‘adequate’ and was described as having ‘a balance of strengths and weaknesses’.

With regard to the CYS relationship with the voluntary and community sector, the CYS Manager explained to the Committee that the CYS contributed £52,032 per annum to the Herefordshire Council for Voluntary Youth Services (HCVYS) through a three-year Service Level Agreement (SLA).  This three year SLA was up for renewal this year.  The money granted to HCVYS was used to support youth work across the County and in return the Council could record the outcomes delivered by HCVYS and its members in its key performance indicator targets.  However, the Council could only claim outcomes  proportionate to the level of funding it provided..  The Ofsted inspector described CYS partnership arrangements as ‘effective’ and that they ‘support and complemented its work’.

The CYS Manager informed the Committee that directorate responsibility for the CYS was changing.  From  the 1^st April 2006  the CYS would sit within the Children’s Services Directorate of the Council rather than Adult and Community Services and therefore scrutiny of the CYS would be undertaken by the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee.

The following are the principal points from the ensuing discussion:

·         The Committee noted the recent appointment of the new Youth Council.

·         The Committee referred to the key performance indicator targets included in a later agenda item and noted that none of the five targets were being satisfactorily met.  It was asserted that the voluntary sector had contact with as many young people as the CYS but at a cost of approximately £50,000 rather than £1.1m.  It was suggested that a fresh approach was required in order to maximise the returns the CYS provided.

·         The Committee was informed that the CYS was still carrying an 8% vacancy rate and that even with a full team of staff the CYS would still not meet national guidelines for the ratio of youth workers compared to the number of young people.

·         A Member of the Committee suggested that young people were not interested in gaining educational outcomes in their leisure time and this would obviously have an impact on the CYS achievements.  This was why the voluntary sector was probably more successful at providing youth facilities as they did not have to adhere so strongly to producing educational outcomes from their activities.

·         The CYS Manager informed the Committee that a significant administrative burden was created through having to monitor and compile data for quality  and performance indicators.

The Cabinet Member (Community Services) acknowledged the problems within the CYS and commented that the service was fighting a difficult battle, particularly as it was carrying staff vacancies.  Attempts to address this deficit had not been aided by the Job Evaluation process which had resulted in the wage levels for Herefordshire youth workers being unattractive compared to other local authorities.

The meeting adjourned at 11.15 a.m. and reconvened at 11.20 a.m.

RESOLVED:

That:

(a) the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee be informed of the concerns indicated above by the Community Services Scrutiny Committee regarding the Community Youth Service;

and;

(b) the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee continue to monitor the future performance of the Community Youth Service.