INTRODUCTION

  1.  YMCA England welcomes this opportunity to contribute to the Education and Skills Committee Inquiry into Every Child Matters.

  2.  The Government's attempt to develop improved services for children, young people and families is to be welcomed. It is essential that a joined up approach to these services not only ensures that children are protected from neglect but also leads to them making a positive contribution and leading fulfilled lives. YMCA England remains concerned that that the involvement of the voluntary sector was not sought at the earliest opportunity and that the emphasis is being placed on services aimed at children, rather than services for young people.

  3.  Research conducted on levels of engagement of YMCAs in pilot Children's Trusts areas highlighted the discrepancies that can occur between local authorities. Of the 22 YMCAs in the 35 pilot areas, only one YMCA had been involved in the planning of the Trusts, and only 30% had even been made aware that there was a pathfinder scheme in their area despite their prominent role in the provision of services for children and young people.

  4.  YMCA England believe a firmer base for such a comprehensive reform of our services to young people would be the UN Declaration on Children's Rights, many of which have a stronger application to young people rather than children.

THE PLACE OF HEALTH, SOCIAL SERVICES AND EDUCATION WITHIN INTEGRATED SERVICES

  5.  With a range of facilities tailored to the local community and already working in partnership with local authorities and other agencies, local YMCAs are ideally placed to deliver integrated early education and full day care, health services and family and parenting support, supporting groups who are at risk as well as delivering mainstream childcare and educational services.

  6.  Overall YMCA England welcomes the move towards greater integration between services. It is important however that for there to be joined-up service provision there must also be joined up thinking within the government. However it concerns YMCA that some groups of young people are given marginal recognition in the proposed framework of integrated service provision. Two specific groups must be highlighted: asylum seekers and children in conflict with the law. YMCA England is pleased to note the addition of Youth Offending Teams to the list of "relevant partners" in the Children Bill as the best way to secure their involvement in local cooperation arrangements—indeed Youth Offending Teams themselves are an example of practical cooperation between partners.

  7.  YMCA England recommend that guidance explaining the expected practical manifestations of cooperation between core partners and wider relevant bodies clearly includes, where appropriate, the voluntary sector as well as users of services.

  8.  The most significant difficulties would appear to relate to how Children's Trusts will work with agencies outside the basic structure. Children's Trusts must recognise the differences in the range of services that are provided to children and to young people. YMCA England are disappointed that housing and equality of opportunity are not included in the definition of a child's well-being. Consideration should be given to the integration of housing services, employment services and the social security services as these agencies also relate to young people and the five key outcomes sought by Every Child Matters.

HEALTH

  9.  YMCA England has welcomed the National Service Framework for Children. The delivery of the programme outlined in the National Service Framework (NSF) will be critical to the delivery of the intended outcomes set out in Every Child Matters[5].

  10.  Many YMCAs work to improve the level of public health for young people, often young people outside of mainstream education and from the most deprived backgrounds. Partnership working must mean just that and we would encourage government to look at ways of encouraging Primary Care Trusts to involve the voluntary sector wherever possible. In many local areas voluntary sector organisations play a vital role in delivering holistic programmes and we would urge the committee to recommend the Government firstly make such preventative activity a priority and secondly commit resources to ensuring these programmes are sustainable.

  11.  YMCA England is encouraged by moves to improve access for those of secondary school age. A target for 75% of young people to have a minimum of two hour's worth of school sport each week is a rather conservative target, but is at least a move in the right direction. However for those outside of mainstream education, often the most disadvantaged, there is a real need for improved access to physical activity outside the education system.

SOCIAL SERVICES

  12.  We know that when family relationships break down, the effects on children and young people can be devastating and long lasting. Family mediation is an important part of our work, helping parents and young people address issues of conflict and understanding between family members. YMCA projects also aim to encourage positive relationships between parents and their children through finding common ground, and projects provide support, education, advice and training to help parents play a more active role in the parenting of their child.

EDUCATION

  13.  Mainstream education is clearly very important to all children and young people and any attempts to improve this are clearly to be welcomed. In addition, YMCA England recognises the importance of regular school attendance and notes with concern that for the first time the numbers permanently outside of this system has overtaken the 100,000 mark[6].

  14.  The concept of extended schools should not be "overstretched". Some young people are excluded from schools and it is unlikely that they will want to return to, or be welcome at, school premises "after hours". Furthermore many young people, while not excluded from school, nevertheless have considerable anxieties around school. A wider point is that no adult is expected to stay more than eight hours in one environment and to ask young people to return to or stay at schools when they have already spent a full day on the same premises is asking a lot more than we ask of adults. We therefore believe that the "extended part of schools" must be staffed and run in a very different way to that of the formal curriculum timetabled day. We also believe that there must be complementary provision for those for whom the attractions of "going back to school" will not be obviously apparent.

THE PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS OF THE "DUTY TO COLLABORATE" INCLUDING THE EFFECT ON FUNDING STREAMS AND LOCATION OF STAFF AND FACILITIES

  15.  YMCA England recognises that many children and young people will come into contact with a number of different agencies and there needs to be effective communication between these agencies. Voluntary sector agencies already work with children and young people across these areas. Voluntary sector agencies are able to be flexible and innovative and can engage people where statutory agencies have been unsuccessful. Voluntary and community organisations can offer alternatives to formal systems where many young people may have experienced difficulties.

  16.  The need for improved communication between children's services is clear and the role that a Children's Trusts approach can play in delivering this is to be welcomed. YMCA England welcomes the piloting of Children's Trusts through pathfinder schemes from December 2003 for three years. However, YMCA England is concerned by comments from the government that suggest they will not wait for the full evaluations of the pathfinder schemes before moving to national implementation.

  17.  YMCA England is very concerned that the Voluntary Sector be involved in the development of Children's Trusts from the earliest opportunity. Only one YMCA in the pathfinder areas was involved in shaping the structure of the trusts. Every Child Matters is the start of a great opportunity to overhaul the way services are delivered to all in the 0-19 age range. However, the current emphasis is placed too firmly on children as opposed to young people.

  18.  It is essential that Children's Trusts are not seen as the answer in themselves. Reform must be accompanied by the provision of appropriate resources if services to children and young people are to be improved. YMCA England is concerned that at a time when £150 million is being cut from the Children's Fund, it may cost up to £91 million to set up Children's Trusts around the country.

  19.  YMCA England would support the notion of a Children's Trusts approach that may be flexibly delivered in order to ensure that each individual agency is made accountable but not restricted by a rigid structure. Our experience is that local circumstances vary hugely and a prescriptive role could be ill-suited to some areas, where, for example the voluntary sector has a strong presence than elsewhere.

STAFF AND MANAGEMENT NEEDS: TEAM-BUILDING, LEADERSHIP AND TRAINING

  20.  YMCA workers in England work with around 10,000 children every week in after school and breakfast clubs, play-schemes, toddler groups, junior clubs, cre"ches and nursery. At least a further 10,000 children take part in YMCA holiday activities and many more use YMCA community sport and fitness facilities.

  21.  There is a sector wide shortage of appropriately trained social and youth workers, and a shortage of new workers entering the sector. YMCA projects find funding for salaries is often very difficult to secure, whilst funding for training of an existing worker is far easier to obtain. YMCA England is concerned that whilst any measures to increase the pool of youth workers would be welcome that the quality of those providing informal education and youth work must not be compromised. The recruitment of childcare and play professionals is similarly difficult.

  22.  For areas such as parenting work YMCAs have traditionally employed workers who have a youth and social work background because parenting is a relatively new discipline which lacked specific training. With the shortage of youth and social work professionals, parenting projects often struggle to attract workers. Wage and career path structures fall behind those with government initiatives, which causes many good workers to leave the voluntary sector in favour of a Sure Start scheme or Connexions project.

  23.  "The salary needs to reflect the responsibilities which childcare workers have", said a Community Education Officer from a YMCA in Leicester. There seems to be a general and well-founded belief amongst those working with children that the amount of responsibility that they carry is disproportionate to the remuneration they receive.

  24.  YMCA is pleased to see in Every Child Matters a commitment from the government to ensuring that working with children and young people is an attractive career. YMCA England believes that there is not real reason why working with children should not be seen as an attractive career, highly valued by the general public. Social work remains a profession lacking in public recognition and value, however YMCA England believe it is also important to address the distinct issues facing other professionals such as youth workers and children's workers.

INSPECTION

  25.  There is a clear need for Children's Trusts to be accountable and inspected and YMCA England encourages the government to intervene, where necessary, to ensure this. Children's Trusts must be accountable locally and be able to react to local need. Any inspection framework and centralised targets must reflect this. YMCA England welcomes the announcement that NHS trusts will judged against the recent national service framework for children and young people's services in their star ratings, and councils will be directly judged against delivery in their comprehensive performance assessments.

LISTENING TO CHILDREN AND THE ROLE OF THE CHILDREN'S COMMISSIONER

  26.  YMCA England is encouraged by government recognition that children, young people and their families must be involved in developing a picture of need for their local area. They must also have a say in how the services which they will use operate so that they feel part of the system. Their involvement must be meaningful and statutory agencies should look at creative and effective ways of involving local people. In engaging young people, it is essential that particular attention is paid to reaching out to young people on the margins—it is not sufficient to only consult with young people who are in education, or those who are already politically active.

  27.  YMCA England is disappointed that greater attention has not been directed toward listening to children, particularly within the Children Bill. Young people make real contributions both inside and outside of formal volunteering activities. Every day young people are engaged through YMCA projects in their community both through schemes such as Millennium Volunteers and other opportunities. YMCAs encourage young people to engage positively through various participation programmes at local level.

WORKING WITH PARENTS

  28.  YMCA England welcome the focus by the Government in Every Child Matters on parents and families. YMCA is particularly well placed to provide information on the support of fathers as well as mothers. The experience of working with young people shows that development is significantly influenced by the context of family life, which is diverse and changing. The YMCA recognises that families face many challenges and have changing support needs. It has responded by developing specific programmes for children, young people and their families. The YMCA takes a proactive approach, seeking to understand the causes of disharmony in families so issues can begin to be addressed before problems arise. YMCA projects aim to encourage positive relationships between parents and their children through finding common ground, and projects provide support, education, advice and training to help parents play a more active role in the parenting of their child.

THE CREATION, MANAGEMENT AND SHARING RECORDS, INCLUDING MORE FOCUSED INQUIRIES INTO PARTICULAR ASPECTS OF THE REFORMS

  29.  YMCA England believes that an effective system for protecting children from harm is vital in order to prevent tragedies such as the death of Victoria Climbié. The YMCA would broadly support the paper's identification of the challenges of making sure that no child is overlooked. The YMCA believe that it is vital that the voluntary sector is fully included in the "information hub". Organisations such as a local YMCA need robust information from the local authorities on how they can share information.

CONCLUSION

  30.  YMCAs are already playing an important role within their local communities providing support and opportunities for children, young people and their families. However more can be done by both voluntary and statutory agencies to develop the potential that exists. Statutory agencies need to give greater recognition to the value of the voluntary sector's contribution and demonstrate a willingness to share in decision-making as well as service delivery.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION: YMCA ENGLAND

  There are 150 local YMCAs throughout England working in over 240 communities, in over 600 locations. These YMCAs are represented nationally by YMCA England.

  YMCAs are one of the largest providers of cre"ches, school clubs, breakfast-clubs and homework clubs in the UK. Over half of YMCAs work in partnership with local schools providing services that complement formal education. One in five YMCAs operate nurseries and have parent toddler programmes. YMCA is an experienced provider of parenting education and support projects.

  57 YMCAs have Connexions partnerships, 14 YMCAs run parenting education courses, 32 YMCAs are part of the Early Years Childcare Development Partnership, 48 YMCAs engage in partnership programmes with their local schools and 43 YMCAs are registered with social services.

  The YMCA is the largest provider of safe, secure and affordable supported accommodation for young people in England. YMCAs offer over 7,300 bed-spaces, ranging from hostel rooms to self-contained flats. The YMCA is also the UK's single largest provider of Foyer, providing integrated housing and training support for young people under one roof. 23 YMCAs provide accommodation for asylum seekers.

  The YMCA is the largest single voluntary sector organisation providing sport, health, exercise and fitness programmes across England. Over half a million people attend YMCA exercise classes each year, including a range of specialist programmes. 26,000 children are estimated to participate in YMCA junior sports and fitness activities every week. Over 20,000 young people are reached by YMCA youth work each week, over 1 million young people each year.

  23 YMCAs also run crime and diversion programmes, 38 YMCAs work with their local Youth Offending Team, 13 YMCAs work in Young Offenders Institutes and 33 YMCAs have involvement with the Safer Communities initiative.

November 2004

6   NACRO Report. Missing Out. 2003. www.nacro.org.uk/publications/crime.htm#missing Back