Services for Young People

Written Evidence Submitted by Mr Keith Jones

Dear Mr Stuart

I watched with interest (and some concern) the Education Committees call for evidence on Wednesday 26 January and felt that little was said that provided any real defence for the need of a universal youth work offer that has been a lifeline to so many young people for so long. For that reason I felt must write and give a practitioners point of view.  I write to you also as a concerned parent, a worried grandparent and as an active member in my own local community. I write in the hope that you will consider, very carefully, the plight facing the countries young people and the impact potential of your quest for `hard evidence ` may have on recommendations you may conclude regarding spend on youth work and associated services for children, young people and their families.

For too long now I have been more than a little disturbed by the heavy emphasis and imposition of the outcome and `purpose-driven` approaches to youth work which are clearly at odds with the needs of the majority of young people and their communities.  In my opinion, current guidance flies in the face of, what to me, youth work hopes to and can achieve. Indeed current practice is seeing more and more youth workers spending increasing amounts of their time servicing the needs of databases rather than those they are there to support.

I am perturbed by the production-line approach that has been wilfully adopted as the `way forward`; and by the disproportionate use and costly micro-management and tracking of young people’s personal development that cannot be at all accurately be measured by the current set of expensive, labour intensive tools and monitoring systems foisted upon workers in the field in the name of accountability with the mantra "we have to be demonstrating value for money"

With the best part of thirty years of community and youth work experience behind me, (and reluctantly approaching retirement) I have had the privilege during my calling, of working with so many young people, some briefly, others for extended periods, some quite `needy`, some less so, but thankfully most are now leading stable and happy lives; and when the time is right, they tell us we helped.

Meeting with many of them later in life, all speak appreciatively of the, caring and interested adult during their formative years and of the time spent with us; `youth workers`. Here I would like share with you some, albeit anecdotal, evidence in the hope that you might gain a deeper understanding of what it is exactly you are asking for.

Recently we opened a new facility for young people and invited older members who had been involved in shaping the services provided, to come along and share in their/our achievement in bringing the project to fruition; here is what one of them wrote after the event. And I could share with you many, many more.

 "Yesterday was a historic moment for everyone, past, present, and future, whoever has or ever will be involved with the work that TCR does. To see such incredible hopes develop over so many years, and finally come to fruition yesterday w...as incredibly moving and I can't praise everyone enough. Joe - You are an utter inspiration to me. I have you and TCR to thank for my own personal career path, and if I can inspire just a single person half as much as you have me, and the many others across the dale, then I'll be a very happy girl.

Thanks Joe :) x"

Whilst the above relates to a project I worked in and tells of young people and families I have worked with, I know that `youth workers` across the country and in your very own constituency have similar and indeed more remarkable stories to tell. And it’s a fair bet that each day a youth worker somewhere will meet up with a young person and reminisce; with the ubiquitous lump in the throat moment that accompanies such occasions.

So what's my point? Given the comments from the young person above, my point is this 1.I didn't plan it. 2. I couldn't measure it 3. I cannot put a figure on the eventual outcomes for the young person concerned or the savings made to society because of my influence. 4. There is no accredited or recorded outcome; apart from what you read above; and here is the rub, that `process` took ten years!

You see the thing is it happens (youth work) in spite of strategy not because of it, it comes about not because of national benchmarks or agencies but local intervention dealing with local need. It takes place in real places with real people, not names or numbers in a database. There is no coercion or hidden agenda; it starts from where young people are in their lives.  The very essence of the process is that young people come to youth work voluntarily and informal education takes place (education by stealth) or not, as the case may be. However it must not be understated that an essential element of youth work is that it is open to all and inclusive and that young people’s association with all their peers is vitally important if one does not want to divide communities.

Obviously this `process`does not fit with current thinking and micro-management model, but the evidence is quite clear, it works, and what works is youth work. It is a formidable tool that, if we are not careful, could soon be lost simply because it is misunderstood (or

misrepresented) and cannot be immediately measured in any meaningful way that satisfies the accountants and number crunchers.

Therefore I pose a few questions to you as an elected member to consider. When you are asking for `robust evidence` about how the impact of youth work can be measured consider this. As a member of parliament you are there to represent and ensure that your constituents receive the best possible outcomes, right?

As such, you would feel duty bound to intervene if one (or more) of your constituents had a problem. So let’s say a family has experienced a housing issue that had not been resolved via normal channels so they call you in to help. Let us assume, as we would expect from our MP’s, you do your duty and the problem is taken care of and the family you assisted are housed, their children go to the local school, they find work and live happily ever after, (Ok its simplified but you get the

picture) I’m sure you will have examples of this and similar problems where your support was required.

Remembering also that you are there for ALL your constituents and you do not just target those with problems, indeed in doing your job well, you will have avoided some members of your community from finding themselves in a negative situation in the first place, Yes? But how do you know who they are and how much you have assisted; and ultimately how much money was saved by your intervention, could you tell me? I would be interested to see your `robust` evidence.

Now, let’s say you were not there to take on that family’s issue, what would be the implications and outcomes for that family? Could you demonstrate `robustly` how your involvement had a social and cost benefit? What might have happened? Homelessness, need to claim benefits, cost of support from social services, mental health issues that would arise etc, etc the list goes on. How would you put a figure on it? And can you tell me how many you have helped who did not go on to require more intense and costly support, just because you are there doing the work you do, therefore saving the country money in the long term?

So the six million dollar question is, what evidence do your constituents, as tax payers, have that YOU provide value for money?

What would your `robust evidence look like? Not so easy is it?

The reality is that as a constituent I have to have faith that having you in your role as our paid MP that you provide a cost effective benefit to me and our community, and that really is, that’s all there is... (Unless you know something I don’t?) As a constituent I may well be able to read on a government website how much you spent on your lunch, but would it tell me how cost effective you have been? No! It wouldn’t, and most of us (despite all the expenses commotion) have positive experiences of dealings with our MP or councillor.

I fully appreciate that these are challenging times but (and time will tell this story) cuts to Youth Services are most defiantly not a way to make savings in real terms. Reducing any support to children and young people will be catastrophic in your own community and we will all pay a heavy price for a long time to come. The price we pay will obviously not be confined to the public purse, it will, by default, reduce the number of young people able to achieve their full potential and create a generation with lower aspirations bringing with them to the heart of our communities all the problems associated with picking up the pieces of their difficult position that they have in no way contributed to. And please also note that youth services are not an area that communities are requesting cut backs and savings to be made, in fact quite the opposite is true.

It’s a fact (measurable or not) that having universal access to a wide choice of age-appropriate services helps to ensure that young people feel valued and will (if investment is made) play their part, now and in the future and leading to visible and effective involvement in their communities that we can all benefit from. The truth is; we really do need them to do this, we cannot afford not too!

So I humbly request that, when asking for `evidence` remember that the questions about youth work arise solely because `youth work` seems less serious than mainstream education.  Somehow a seemingly puritanical view has set in that seems to suggest that unless something has an immediate and quantifiable benefit somehow it is of little value. As they say, you will end up "knowing the cost of everything and the value of nothing"

My view would be that you take this view at your peril; MP’s will be next, some would say this line has already started with the call for a reduction in the number of MP’s. Apparently someone did some `robust` evidence based research and found that "the House of Commons could do the job that it does with 10% fewer MPs without any trouble at all."

Now where have I heard that before?

So, your task should you choose to accept it is "do not let either of those cuts happen" Be part of the solution, not a creator of the problem, and make no mistake, young people need you now; probably more than they have ever needed you before.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and I would very much welcome your feedback and comment. And you have my word that I will feed your responses back to the young people. At the very least the ones I work with, the thing is, will I be telling them you are on their side?

Yours sincerely

Mr Keith Jones

PLEASE NOTE

The opinions expressed in this correspondence are my own and do not necessarily express the views of my employer or any group I am personally associated with

April 2011