Form

Youth sector engagement exercise

Published 23 February 2021

This form was withdrawn on 14 August 2024

Exercise completed.

Applies to England

Youth Review

The Treasury announced a Spring Review of programmes to support youth services as part of the 2020 Spending Review. DCMS is leading this internal review but are keen to hear from youth service providers and representative groups directly.

The Youth Review will set policy direction for the out-of-school youth agenda, focusing on programmes currently within the scope of DCMS, with a particular focus on addressing regional differences in opportunities for young people. This includes considering the next steps on the Youth Investment Fund and the NCS programme. DCMS will also be working to align its aims with other government departments and priorities for young people.

Purpose

This pack outlines our key questions for you to share with your youth sector networks. The questions have been developed in collaboration with youth sector representatives from the National Youth Advisory Board. You may wish to hold discussion sessions or consult via other channels, whatever works best for you. The main message is that we want to hear from as many different voices as possible to inform the Youth Review. All information you provide will be kept anonymous and not attributed directly to organisations/individuals supporting this engagement exercise.

Timescales are tight, hence we are asking for contributions by Sunday 7th March 2021.

Previous Learnings

DCMS has carried out previous consultations with the youth sector, during which the following key messages were shared:

• National and local infrastructure is varied across the country, and it is recommended the design of any funding programmes for youth services seeks to support both.

• The youth sector welcomes both national and place-based funding, and encourages DCMS to ensure join-up of funding streams, and accessibility of funding to grassroots organisations, as well as regional and national bodies.

• A mixed funding model will be essential to achieving any vision for out-of-school youth provision.

• Government funding for youth services presents an opportunity to increase consistency of outcomes and measurement. While central government and local organisations will likely have different interests regarding data collection, both should work together to ensure outcomes and metrics meet each others’ needs.

• The youth sector raised the value of open-access youth services alongside broader positive activities for young people, and called for DCMS’ vision to be clear on the distinction between the two.

• Government is encouraged to reflect on the distinct role of youth work, training and up-skilling to support practitioners to deliver youth provision.

Questions

Below is a list of questions we are keen to hear your views on. You do not have to respond to every question if there is not time or they are not relevant to you.

1. Vision & Outcomes

DCMS has two aims for it’s youth support: (i) developing skills for life and work, and (ii) supporting mental and physical wellbeing. We are seeking your views on how to focus DCMS resources and funding to meet these two aims.

Key questions:

• What should Government’s role be in supporting organisations that deliver youth services?

• How can Government help ensure every young person has access to positive activities that meet their needs, given the differences in provision across the country?

• With limited funding, what would you prioritise for youth provision over the next 3 years and why?

Additional questions:

• What youth activities/services do you think make the biggest impact on the aims mentioned above? Are there any of these you particularly struggle to fund?

• Should we be prioritising international youth opportunities and if so, why?

• What role does digital provision have in delivering services for young people?

• What role does youth volunteering play in achieving these aims?

2. Funding models & Partnerships

We are continuing to explore how Government can best support organisations that deliver youth services. This includes investigating different youth funding models at a national and local level that would increase collaboration, leverage additional funding into the sector and get the best outcomes for young people.

Key questions:

• What is the most effective funding model you’ve seen that encourages collaboration between youth service providers and positive outcomes for young people?

• How can we help leverage alternative funding into the youth sector?

• How can Government support innovation in the youth sector?

Additional questions:

• What do you consider to be the key priorities for capital funding in the youth sector?

• Should approaches to funding change when considering national and local organisations? If so, how?

3. Data & Evaluation

We recognise the challenges and successes in recent years in evidencing the impact of youth services, and are keen to explore ways to better capture the value of youth provision as early interventions. We are continuing to work with the sector to explore ways to showcase impact that meets both the sector and Government’s needs.

Key questions:

• How can we better capture the long-term impact of youth provision?

• How can we better capture the preventative value of early intervention youth provision?

Additional questions:

• How has previous Government investment on data collection and evaluation of youth provision worked well?

• What challenges have persisted?

• What is the best impact data you have seen in youth provision?

4. Further feedback

• Are there any further reflections or feedback you would like to share with DCMS?

Next steps

Capturing views & feeding back

Please can you provide responses via google iform (please follow this link).

Please provide a summary of the main points, including any quotations (anonymised) that represent the views of those in your organisation and networks as appropriate. If you choose to facilitate multiple workshops, please return a new feedback form for each session. You do not have to respond to every question if there is not time or they are not relevant to you.

If you have any problems get in touch with us at youthreview@dcms.gov.uk

Further information

Participant Consent

We would expect that participants are given information about the workshop they are being invited to take part in. This means getting consent (verbal or written) from them that they want to participate and giving them the opportunity to ask questions or withdraw if they feel uncomfortable. We will collate data and store in google forms. Data will be used anonymously to help policy officials to form recommendations from DCMS’ out of school youth offer.

Confidentiality of your responses

Information provided in response to this engagement exercise, including personal information, may be subject to publication or disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, the Data Protection Act 2018 or the Environmental Information Regulations 2004.

If you want all, or any part, of a response to be treated as confidential, please explain why you consider it to be confidential.If a request for disclosure of the information you have provided is received, your explanation about why you consider it confidential will be taken into account, but no assurance can be given that confidentiality can be maintained. An automatic confidentiality disclaimer generated by your IT system will not, of itself, be regarded as binding on the Department.

The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport will process your personal data (name and address and any other identifying material) in accordance with the Data Protection Act 2018 and, your personal information will only be used for the purposes of this call for evidence. Your information will not be shared with third parties unless the law allows it.

You can read more about what DCMS does when we ask for and hold your personal information in our personal information charter (see here).