Services for Young People

Written Evidence Submitted by Mike Amos-Simpson

I recently became aware of the inquiry into services for young people and have followed matters to date with interest. I have had a particular interest in the NCS as it is a scheme with very close similarities to a programme I developed 11 years ago and ran for 9 years.

I have attached copies of independent research based on that programme and hope it may be of use towards your inquiries. There are several findings from my experience that seem of particular relevance to discussions during the meetings shown on the Parliament TV including that we quickly reached a point at which the programme was delivered by young people. Another critical point was the essential role of involving local adults in supporting young people that we found to often be more beneficial than involvement by professional workers.

I have shared these reports with Craig Morley and Jon Yates at The Challenge Network and I met with both of these earlier in the week having offered to share my learning from having previously set up a similar programme albeit on a smaller scale than the NCS. A very significant learning from the Young Movers programme was the movement toward involving young people in the delivery of the programme. This was significant both in improving the quality of the programme itself, and in reducing costs. This being largely due to the need to offer simpler activities more relevant to what young people could replicate beyond their initial involvement in the programme.

Given the very detailed scrutiny being given towards funding for youth services I was surprised to hear that this aspect of being able to structure the programme in such a way would only be of interest if there were concern for the budget and as this was not the case it was not currently a concern. I trust that this isn't in fact the case and that the reasons given were a simplification, however I do hope those involved in developing the NCS will be given at least equal scrutiny in relation to the true value of the scheme.

I wish you success in moving provision for young people forward. It is a sector in great need of reform for many years and I hope the current inquiries focus on the potential for reform in a positive sense.

1st April 2011

Footnote Annex not published