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Policy Digest #7 August 09

05 August, 2009

Advice Policy

Reports on recession and young people's advice needs create interest

Youth Access new reports on The impact of the recession on young people and on their needs for advice and counselling services and The Advice Needs of People have attracted considerable interest from across the sector and in the media. Download the reports from the Youth Access website.

Social Exclusion Task Force seeks young people to interview

As a result of dissemination of our recession and advice needs reports, Youth Access has been contacted by the Social Exclusion Task Force who are undertaking a study on exclusion in the economic downturn. The study team is keen to speak to young people aged 18-24 who have been directly impacted by the recession through job loss or have left training/education and are struggling to find work. Ideally, for at least some of the interviews, they would like to speak to individuals who have or are engaging with JC+ and what their experience was. They are offering a £15 voucher and the interview should last for 45 to 60 minutes. There is a limited window to carry out these interviews of either Friday 7th, Monday 10th and Tuesday 11th August. If you can help out with this, email Steve Lee or telephone on 020-8772 9900.

New report on young people's legal capability

Public Legal Education Network (Plenet) and Independent Academic Research Studies (IARS) have published a study on young people's legal capability. The report investigates the need for public legal education (PLE) amongst various groups of young people, and to gain an insight into the nature of their legal capability.

The study looked at young people's knowledge, skills and attitudes. Findings included:

Participants had little or no knowledge of most of basic rights and entitlements, seeming unaware of any system of civil law to which they had recourse.
Many lacked verbal communication skills, affecting their ability to resolve law-related problems. The participants in the study said that feelings of frustration and anger would mean they are likely to resort to aggression to try and sort out their problems.
Young people had a negative attitude towards professionals, preferring members of their families or friends as sources of help and advice.

Among the recommendations from the study was that public legal education activities for young people need to be through outreach and be carried out by individuals trusted by the young people involved.

Download the report.

New network provides homelessness support to LGBT young people

A network of services for young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people at risk of homelessness has been launched by a new consortium. Jigsaw created by Stonewall Housing, with the Albert Kennedy Trust, mental health organisation Pace and community safety organisation Galop, aims to reduce homelessness among LGBT young people who may have faced rejection from their families, persecution in their communities or homophobic hate crimes by providing specialist advice. Read the C&YP Now article.

Counselling and Mental Health:

National Consultation on the Regulation of Counsellors and Psychotherapists

The Health Professions Council is seeking feedback on recommendations for the statutory regulation of psychotherapists and counsellors.

Members can respond directly online by the 16th October 2009 if they wish, or you can contribute to the Youth Access response.

Send a copy of your response, or set out your comments and observations, by email to Catherine@youthaccess.org.uk by the 8 September 2009. We will send you our draft response for your final comments on the 1 October 2009 for return by 8 October 09. We will mail you a reminder on this shortly.

Contact Catherine@youthacccess.org.uk if you have any questions

New Horizons consultation

The Department of Health is consulting on New Horizons, its strategy for better mental well-being and better mental health care for the whole population including young people. It is vital the DH gets feedback from the youth counselling sector. The consultation runs from 23 July to15 October 2009 and you can read more and respond directly online or contribute to the Youth Access response.

Please mail a copy of your response or send your comments and observations to Catherine@youthaccess.org.uk no later than the 30 September 2009 to use in the Youth Access response.

Rise in male ChildLine calls

A record number of boys called the children's counselling service ChildLine last year - double the amount seeking help five years ago. More than 58,000 boys phoned the charity in 2007/8 with problems ranging from loneliness to violent abuse. Most calls to ChildLine are from girls - but during the past five years the proportion made by boys rose from one in every five to one in every three. Read the BBC News story.

Sexually abused children in postcode lottery for therapy

Each year at least 55,000 victims of sex abuse face behavioral and mental health problems because of a postcode lottery in access to therapy, according to the NSPCC. There is only one support programme for every 25,000 children in the UK and many areas have no therapeutic provision at all for abused children. Read the Timesonline article.

Youth Policy and Social Inclusion

Delay in publication of IAG Strategy

Publication of the long-awaited DCSF IAG Strategy has been further delayed following the Ministerial re-shuffle in June. The new Ministers say they wish to further consider the Strategy and its implementation over the summer. Since then, Alan Milburn's report on social mobility and access to the professions has made a number of recommendations about the future of careers advice and Connexions, which if accepted, may mean further delay in publication.

Youth Access has been closely involved in the strategy's development and will continue to urge for a better response to young people's wider personal and social IAG needs.

You can find details of the Panel on Fair Access to the Professions and download its report on the Cabinet Office website.

New guidance on leadership roles in Children's Services

The DCSF has published new statutory guidance on the Roles and responsibilities of the Lead Member for children's services and the Director of children's services. Read the Guidance on the DCSF website.

DCSF Third sector strategy and action plan

The DCSF published its new third sector strategy and action plan on 30 July 2009. The strategy sets out our principles, pledges and commitments for continued working with the third sector to help deliver the Every Child Matters agenda. In particular, it describes plans to achieve better engagement and partnership working, to improve commissioning, and help to develop a healthy third sector.

For more information, read Third sector strategy and action plan: Intentions into action which can be downloaded or ordered for free from ECM Online Publications.

Safeguarding

The DCSF has published updated practice guidance on the safeguarding of disabled children. The guidance, produced by The Children's Society for the government, will advise local organisations on how to best safeguard and promote the welfare of disabled children. Read the Guidance at DCSF website.

Exclusions more likely for deprived children

Children who are entitled to free school meals are three times more likely to be excluded from school than their wealthier counterparts, according to the latest DCSF exclusion statistics. Read the story in C&YP Now.

Health

STIs still rife among 16 to 24 age group

Young people continue to be disproportionately affected by sexually transmitted infections. The 16- to 24-year-old age group accounts for approximately half of all newly diagnosed STIs, despite making up just 12 per cent of the total population, according to The Health Protection Agency (HPA). Read the C&YP Now article.

Child drug overdoses up

The number of children being admitted to hospital as a result of drug poisoning has increased by 14 per cent in the past four years according to figures obtained by Children & Young People Now. Read the article.

900,000 young people use a drug every month

The British Crime Survey has revealed that while Class A drug use among the wider population has remained stable, it has increased by 1.2% among 16-24 year olds. Read the BBC News story.

NICE issues guidance to help healthcare professionals identify child maltreatment

NICE has issued guidance to help healthcare professionals to identify children who may have been maltreated. The guidance provides a summary of alerting features that should prompt a healthcare professional to consider, suspect or exclude child maltreatment. Child maltreatment includes neglect, physical, sexual and emotional abuse, and fabricated or induced illness. Read the Guidance at the NICE website.

Young men living with parents more violent

Men in their early 20s still living at home with their parents are more violent than those who live independently, researchers in Britain found.

Researchers at Queen Mary, University of London, said this group of men makes up 4 percent of the male population in Britain, but they are responsible for 16 percent of all violent injuries in the last five years. Read the UPI story.

Department of Health third sector funding information

The Department of Health has published Third Sector Investment Programme: Innovation Excellence and Service Development Fund 2010-11 - information pack for third sector organisations, which provides third sector organisations with information to help them decide if this funding stream is applicable to both their organisation and the proposed activity they are seeking funding for. Priority proposals will include those that have a clear focus on targeting the most disadvantaged children and young people aged between 11 and 19 years old. Read the information on the DH website.

Recession News

Youth unemployment tops Cabinet's agenda – and breaks records

Youth unemployment reached a 16 year high of 726,000 after a quarterly rise of 95,000, an almost 2.5% rise to 7.6% of the labour force.

The Cabinet has launched an emergency package of measures to combat youth unemployment and head off the threat of a 'lost generation' of young people as a result of the recession. 'Backing Young Britain' is designed to get more young people into employment, work experience and training. It includes measures such as a network of mentors to work with young job seekers and job clubs for unemployed 18- to 24-year-olds. Visit the 'Backing Young Britain' website.

The first step of the plan was announcement of the first tranche of awards from the Future Jobs Fund, which is intended to ultimately create 150,000 new jobs for unemployed young people. Read details of the Future Jobs Fund on the DWP website.

Hardship Fund opens for applications

The Hardship Fund is now open for applications. The fund offers grants of between £50,000 and £250,000 will be available to organisations with a turnover of at least £200,000 that are in financial hardship which is impacting on their ability to deliver services in the following areas:

· Health and Social Care

· Housing Support

· Education and Training

· Information, Advice and Guidance

Apply to the Hardship Fund via the Community Development Foundation.

UK recovery 'to take five years

The National Institute of Economic and Social Research (NIESR) is predicting it may take 5 years for incomes to return to the levels averaged prior to the recession hit in 2008. Read the BBC News story.