Latest News

The Regional Youth Work Unit team in Taunton

COMMUNITIES MINISTER GREG CLARK SAYS VOLUNTARY ORGANISATIONS WILL BE WELCOME IN LOCAL ENTERPRISE PARTNERSHIPS - Greg Clark, the minister for communities and decentralisation, has said the government would welcome the involvement of voluntary organisations in negotiations to establish new public-private partnerships aimed at boosting local economies.  Read the full story here (Posted 2/9/10)

Skills - Third Sector news: NEW REPORT ON VOLUNTEER MANAGEMENT - Managers of volunteers undervalued and underfunded. New research published. A new report published today reveals the need for more training and development for managers of volunteers. It shows that nearly half of people who manage volunteers have not received any training that would help them in their work, despite the fact that volunteers are crucial to the Governments Big Society.  To read the full press release please click here (Posted 2/9/10)

£3.8 MILLION FOR VOLUNTARY YOUTH WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT - The  Regional Youth Work Unit is the Regional Development Agent for the new Progress project for youth workforce development.  Read more here and contact us if you wish to become a training provider or for more details of the offer  (Posted 27/8/10)

UPDATE ON NATIONAL CITIZEN SCHEME - The cost of piloting the NCS over 2 years is now thought to be higher than previously expected and is causing concern to some members of the coalition.  Read more here (Posted 27/8/10)

PROGRESS PROJECT  - The Youth Work Unit at Learning South West is pleased to announce that we are the official ‘Regional Delivery Agency’ for the Progress project. This is part of the Youth Workforce Strategy, co-ordinated through CWDC. NCVYS is the lead partner in developing Progress.
The overall purpose of Progress is to build the capacity of the voluntary and community sector by offering 25,000 accredited training opportunities for volunteers and paid staff covering five priority training areas. The project aims to improve capacity of staff and volunteers to meet the needs of young people, and also the capacity of organisations to develop their workforce.
The project runs until March 2011. In the region we are currently seeking training providers from the VCS to deliver accredited training that focuses on at least one of the five priority areas:
• Facilitating learning and development of young people;
• Safeguarding the health and welfare of young people;
• Maintaining health and safety in the workplace;
• Promoting access to information and support;
• Promoting equality and the valuing of diversity.
We can provide help and support in identifying appropriate QCF recognised units and meeting the requirements of Awarding Bodies. Providers will receive £100 subsidy per learner registered to help with the costs of provision. Learners must be engaged in programmes by March 2011. The project includes Familiarisation Training for providers, with the option of undertaking training leading to PTTL qualifications.  For more information please contact Fiona Phur or Gill Millar on 01823 335491 (Posted 18/8/10)

CLOSURE OF GOVERNMENT OFFICE SOUTH WEST Communities Secretary Eric Pickles has announced plans to abolish the remaining eight regional government offices.
This means Department for Education programmes including Sure Start, Connexions, Positive Activities for Young People and the 14 to 19 reforms will no longer be managed at regional level. For more on this story, click here (Posted 26/07/10)

MY PLACE  The Department for Education has not yet made a decision on Myplace funding. The Big Lottery Fund has therefore deferred their confirmation of in-principle My Place grants until a decision is made. The Government are committed to a full comprehensive spending review in the autumn and Ministers will shortly be considering their spending priorities. (Posted 26/07/10)

YOUTH WORK WEEK  Youth Work Week will take place between 1st  and 7th November to promote the value of youth work and raise its profile with politicians and the public. It will take the theme of 'celebrating great youth work.' The National Youth Agency will be producing a range of free resources to support the week later in the summer. These will be available on the NYA website at www.nya.org.uk shortly. (Posted 26/07/10)

CONTACT POINT The government has announced the closure of Contact Point from 6th August 2010 and outlined intentions for other mechanisms to be put in place.  Please click here for more on this story. (Posted 26/07/10)

REFORM OF CHILDREN'S TRUSTS  Strong local partnerships are crucial to meeting the needs of all children, but a one-size-fits-all approach will not work. That is why this Government intends to remove much of the bureaucracy surrounding children’s trusts and allow schools to choose how best they may engage. The Secretary of State has indicated that he proposes to:
• remove the duty on schools to co-operate through Children’s Trusts via the forthcoming Education Bill
• remove the requirement on local authorities to set up Children’s Trust Boards and the requirement on those Boards to prepare and publish a joint Children and Young People’s Plan, at the first available legislative opportunity
• revoke the regulations underpinning the Children and Young People’s Plan and withdraw the statutory guidance on Children’s Trusts, in the autumn. See here for more information. (Posted 23/07/10)

The NATIONAL CITIZEN SERVICE was launched on July 22nd; this will be piloted, initially focusing on 10,000 young people in the first year with a view to it being rolled out nationally. Those young people who sign up to the scheme will have access to activities that include structured training and work on a community social action plan. They will also spend at least 10 days and nights away from home on a residential activity. Nick Hurd and the Office for the Civil Society are now leading on this.  The government has opened the application process for charities, businesses and voluntary groups that want to run its National Citizen Service, a voluntering programme for young people. At a reception at 10 Downing Street yesterday, Francis Maude, the Minister for the Cabinet Office, said the government would invite organisations to submit their bids to be providers of the scheme over the next few weeks. (Posted 23/07/10)

OFSTED  have published their report "Supporting Young People". This survey examines the progress made in 11 local authority areas in developing new arrangements to integrate the work of various youth support agencies. 
The report highlights evidence of a lot of good practice but also the need to accelerate activity over commissioning Local Authority leaders are responding to that challenge."  (Posted 21/7/10)

YOUTH JUSTICE The Independent Commission on Youth Crime and Anti-Social Behaviour has published its Time for a Fresh Start report on the way society responds to troublesome children and young people. The report estimates that the cost of dealing with youth crime and anti-social behaviour is over £4 billion each year. The report calls for the introduction of restorative justice across England and Wales to halve the current number of juveniles in custody. The report further calls for a significant reinvestment of resources in early intervention to tackle serious anti-social behaviour among children and prevent later offending. (Posted 26/07/10)

FUNDING NEWS

FUNDING: CONNEXION SERVICE TO LOSE UP TO 50% FUNDING A survey of Connexions services, which provide careers advice and guidance to young people, reveals more than one in 10 face budget cuts of up to 50 per cent, with one in seven stating they are suffering reductions of £2m or more. Read more here. (Posted 27/07/10

FUNDING: EDUCATION SECRETARY MICHAEL GOVE OUTLINES £670m IN CUTS - Click here to see a letter from Michael Gove to Ed Balls outlining the cuts, cuts planned include "Youth sector development fund grants, saving £8m", "the scaling back of the safeguarding budget by £8m by delivering child internet safety messages more efficiently" and "reducing spending on the home safety scheme" (Posted 22/06/10) 

FUNDING: SCRAPPING OF GRASSROOTS GRANTS FUNDS The Office for Civil Society has confirmed that the £130m Grassroots Grants fund, which was set up by the Labour government to support small charities and community groups, will not be renewed, but that the new Communities First fund would foster the creation of new community groups in deprived areas. Details of the new scheme are to be announced in December. The Futurebuilders investment programme to help voluntary groups bid for public service contracts is also to end. The Capacitybuilders (helping sector support bodies develop) and v (youth volunteering) programmes are both under review. V received £38.1m in government funding in 2009/10 and is due to receive £39m in 2010/11 meanwhile Capacitybuilders had a budget of around £90m in the 2008-11 spending round but came under criticism from the National Audit Office.  (Posted 5/7/10)

FUNDING: PLAY ENGLAND  The Department for Education (DfE) is making £5m cuts in its revenue expenditure for this current financial year and is also removing the ring-fence from playbuilder capital expenditure.  As a consequence, Play England has  announced a staff consultation on a new organisational structure. The consultation proposes a reduced regional presence. The public statement about this is published here.  Meanwhile, please direct any queries about the play programme directly to DfE.  Play England's broader lottery funded programme of work continues until March 2011. (Posted 30/06/10)

FUNDING: GOVERNMENT CUTS MILLIONS FROM 14 to 19 REFORM FUNDING - Funding for 14 to 19 reforms has been cut by £13.2m as the government has revealed the full extent of cuts within the Department for Education.
Education Secretary Michael Gove wrote to all local authorities this week with further details on departmental savings. This included plans to reduce the 14 to 19 local delivery support grant by £13.2m. The grant exists to support local authorities in delivering the 14 to 19 reforms.  Read more here (Posted 22/6/10)

VETTING AND BARRING SCHEME ANNOUNCEMENT - Today the Government has announced their intention to remodel the Vetting and Barring Scheme (VBS) back to proportionate, commonsense levels.  As a result, the ISA-registration stage of the scheme has been stopped and therefore will not launch on 26 July 2010 as planned.
Click here to find out more (Posted 16/6/10)

THE BIG SOCIETY

BIG SOCIETY: THE LAUNCH The Prime Minister launched the Big Society and outlined plans for 4 target communiities and the Big Society Bank - see more here. A Big Society Ministerial Group has been formed and will be co-chaired by Eric Pickles from Dept for Communities and Local Governemtn and Francis Maude from the Cabinet Office.  Further information here. (Posted 23/07/10)

BIG SOCIETY: FRANCIS MAUDE PROMISES NEW FUND FOR COMMUNITY GROUPS - Minister for the Cabinet Office says Communities First fund will help start more groups in deprived areas.  The government will set up a fund to foster the creation of community groups in deprived areas, Francis Maude, Minister for the Cabinet Office, revealed today. Read the full story here  (Posted 11/6/10)

BIG SOCIETY: CABINET OFFICE  The Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude has launched the Cabinet Office Structural Reform Plan.  The plan outlines the Cabinet Office’s six departmental priorities with milestones and includes the coalition commitments on Building the Big Society.  The Cabinet Office’s six priorities are:
•Civil Service Reform
•Quango reduction
•Information and Communications Technology Strategy
•Driving efficiency in government operations
•Transparency
•Support the building of the Big Society (Posted 25/06/10)

BIG SOCIETY: CONSERVATIVES SET OUT TO 'REAFFIRM KEY POLICIES' FOR THE VOLUNTARY SECTOR - Nick Hurd the minister responsible for charities, social enterprises and voluntary organisations in the Cabinet Office and Francis Maude, the minister for the Cabinet Office have announced that Government policy will focus on three fundamental issues:
    * Making it easier to run a charity, social enterprise or voluntary organisation
    * Getting more resources into the sector: strengthening its independence and resilience
    * Making it easier for sector organisations to work with the State
Click here to read the full letter (Posted 28/05/10)

BIG SOCIETY: BIG SOCIETY POLICY PROGRAMME - At a round table event in the Cabinet Room in Number 10, a group of civil society community activists and leaders met with the Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, Minister for the Cabinet Office Francis Maude and Minister for Civil Society Nick Hurd to debate the Government's Big Society programme. A cross-government policy programme will create a climate that empowers local people and communities, building a Big Society that would roll back big government, bureaucracy and Whitehall power. To read the full story please click here (Posted 21/5/10)

COMPACT WILL BE REFRESHED AND RENEWED - David Cameron has pledged to "refresh and renew" the Compact, but did not give any indication that the government would give the Commission for the Compact statutory powers.  Speaking at the launch of the big society agenda on Tuesday, Cameron said the Compact - the public and voluntary sector fair play agreement created by Labour in 1998 - had been "honoured more in the breach than the observance".  Read the full story here (Posted 25/5/10)

OLDER NEWS:

QUALITY STANDARDS FOR POSITIVE ACTIVITIES -  The draft Standards were published on 23 March 2010. 

For more topical and up to date News Stories please see this months edition of Youth News