Initial Reaction – James Cathcart, Director, Young Voices Heard.
“The whole strategy is promising and ambitious, but surely now merits the appointment of a dedicated senior Youth Minister to combine or coordinate youth teams in other departments, providing a point of focus, a ‘national listen’ to match the ‘national youth voice. Having said that, I very much welcome the new commitments to embed youth voice and participation in public life, such as 1/ the promise to create a new national ‘Youth Policy Network’ that would co-produce policy, and 2/ a promise to work with local areas to establish new Local Youth Councils across England. Critically, there is also a promise to 3/ be accountable to young people through a new website for young people, which will contain updates on the delivery of the strategy, and 4/ a commitment to invite a diverse group of young people to run a 4/ new Annual National Hearing on the delivery of the strategy.
Other reactions
“The National Youth Strategy is a landmark moment. It rightly recognises youth work as the glue binding a fragmented system together and gives young people a stronger voice than ever. Despite facing many challenges, young people have shown extraordinary resilience: supporting friends, leading change in their communities, and helping design the solutions announced today. They shaped this strategy from the outset – and they must now be equal partners in delivering it. .. A strategy is only a promise. Young people will judge success by what is delivered, not what is written. Today’s announcements are a welcome down-payment, but long-term change demands long-term investment.” UK Youth CEO : Rosie Ferguson OBE
Youth Advisory Group endorsement – Foreword of the Report
The Youth Advisory Group, who helped mobilise youthvoice to inform and influence the report’s outcomes, wrote the foreword for the Report, stating that “We believe this strategy sets youth policy on a stronger path”.
They found that those they have worked with in government have been “open; really listening and, crucially, making changes as a result of what we have said“. They “value the thoughts of young people”
“For us, the strategy will have made a difference if young people’s mental and physical health outcomes have improved, and it will truly have succeeded if we can look at the next generation and say they have hope and excitement for their future. Here’s to creating a better, more hopeful world where all of us are valued and supported to thrive.”
YouthVoice – Although young people’s views have influenced the whole report and choice of topic areas, commitments to embed #youthvoice mechanisms are particularly referenced in the sections on ‘Vision’ and ‘Chapter 3, Seen and Heard’, with ‘Actions 9 and 10’. Note the technical section, which identifies which department is accountable.
Vision
“From excluded to empowered” – Our goal is to put young people back in the driving seat of their own lives. Young people’s views will be at the core of what we do, ensuring that they have the power and agency to drive change in their local community. This means that you will see more local and national policies being co-produced with young people, new ways for young people to be decision-makers in their area, as well as tools and resources for young people to engage in their communities.
Seen and Heard – Delivering with Young People (extract)
Action 9: Delivering with young people
We will:
- lower the voting age to 16 for all elections ahead of the next UK Parliamentary General Election, increasing young people’s engagement in our democracy
- ensure young people have the information and support they need* to fully participate in the democratic process, including through civic and political education
- make citizenship compulsory at key stages 1 and 2 and strengthen secondary citizenship content, to ensure that all pupils are introduced to key content on media literacy, financial literacy, law and rights, democracy and government, and climate education from an early age
*Comment – In spirit of participation, co-production and infleunce Id expect an ongoing youth advisory/design panel will inform, influence and identify what needed and what fully participate looks like and uses to hold the government accountable on this committment.
We have already begun to change the way we govern, putting those affected by decisions at the heart of government. For example, a Youth Advisory Panel is working closely with the government on the development and implementation of the Youth Guarantee, while Youth Sustainability Champions are shaping the implementation of our Sustainability and Climate Change Strategy.
However, we know that we need to go further and take ambitious steps to work with young people every step of the way. We will:
- create a new Youth Policy Network in the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) of specialist organisations to ensure that whichever part of government is making decisions, if they affect young people, a diverse range of young people can take part. We will also make it a requirement of DCMS youth funding for programmes* to be co-designed with young people unless there is a good reason why not.
- empower young people to create change. Through funding for the #iwill movement, we will set up a network of young ambassadors in areas which are most in need. We will also fund local organisations working directly with young people to deliver social action projects in their communities. Examples could be campaigning for change in how local services are run, leading a community event, or fundraising for a cause.
*Comment – the DCMS youth team currently funds the UKYouth Parliament until March 26. Could this be an opportunity for this new co-designing group to review and revisit the tender specification for this and other #youthvoice national programmes (we are about to see the revival of the British Youth Councils successor that will need support) to ensure they support the Youth Strategys new youthvoice mechanisms such as the Policy Network, support for local youth councils, and annual accoutability hearing JC/Ed
Many decisions that directly affect young people are made at the local level. We want local authorities to go further in creating policy for young people, with young people. We will:
- introduce a new, clear expectation that local areas in receipt of youth funding should be able to clearly demonstrate strong partnership working with young people and that young people have driven and support the decisions that are made about them. Where this expectation is not met, we will seek alternative local delivery partners.
- provide tools, guidance, and funding for local authorities to assess and improve the services currently available to young people, guided by young people’s views
- establish new Youth Councils across England, so that representative groups of young people can influence local decision-making on issues that affect them
- start a ‘test and learn’ project to understand the best ways young people can influence funding decisions at a local level. We will look at where best practice already exists, what interventions have the greatest impact, and what support is needed to make it work well. We will then work with key organisations and councils to implement this more widely.
Action 10: Holding us to account
We will prioritise our 10 actions areas to respond to the priorities young people have set out and create real change.
- measuring our outcomes across the government through a shared framework and metrics. We will ensure that this framework builds on existing reporting and accountability processes so we can paint a clear picture of how services are being delivered. This will allow us to establish a common way to track our impact across those outcomes. This framework will complement the Outcomes Framework for local government, which will clarify the role that local authorities play in ensuring young people have access to youth activities and facilities and will be used to measure the performance and success of local authorities’ work.
- building on existing engagement processes across government to manage a website for young people which will contain updates on the delivery of the strategy as well as opportunities for them to take part in policy or programme development. We will ensure that vulnerable and disadvantaged young people have the opportunity to participate and understand what progress is being made against key policies which benefit them in particular.
- every year, we will invite a diverse group of young people to run a national hearing on the delivery of the strategy – a process we will co-design with young people. This will allow us to provide updates on the actions taken across government and discuss priorities with young people.
- in addition, we will publish an interim delivery report in 2027. This report will collect data through existing processes across government and gather views from young people, paying particular attention to the impact the strategy is having on disadvantaged and vulnerable young people.
Actions and Accountable Departments
| Action 9: Delivering with young people | |
| Lower the voting age to 16 | MHCLG |
| Ensure young people have the information and support they need to fully participate in the democratic process | Cross-government |
| Make citizenship compulsory at key stages 1 and 2 and strengthen secondary citizenship content | DfE |
| Create a new ‘Youth Policy Network’ to co-produce policies | DCMS |
| Fund the #iwill movement to empower young people to be change makers in their local area | DCMS |
| Fund place-based youth social action, ensuring those opportunities are available for young people from diverse backgrounds | DCMS |
| Introduce a new, clear expectation that local areas in receipt of youth funding should be able to clearly demonstrate strong partnership working with young people | DCMS |
| Work with local areas to establish new Youth Councils across England | MHCLG/ DCMS |
| Start a ‘test and learn’ project to understand how young people can influence local funding decisions | DCMS |
| Action 10: Holding us to account | |
| Measure our outcomes across the government through a shared framework and metrics | Cross-government |
| Manage a website for young people which will contain updates on the delivery of the strategy | DCMS |
| Invite a diverse group of young people to run an annual national hearing on the delivery of the strategy | DCMS |
| Publish an interim delivery report in 2027 | DCMS |