Frequently Asked Questions about the Integrated Youth Support Strategy
1. What is an Integrated Youth Support Strategy (IYSS)?
The Government has asked local councils to develop an Integrated Youth Support Strategy (IYSS) to set out how services and support for young people can be organised, managed and delivered.
This doesn’t necessarily mean we need to create new services, but it does mean we will look at how service providers can work together to deliver better support to young people.
During 2009-2010, Leicester City Council will be working with its partners to develop the Integrated Youth Support Strategy.
2. Why are we doing this?
The Government is asking local authorities to consult young people when they plan how to develop youth services. It wants young people to have a say in the services that are provided for them, and it wants local councils to make sure they promote these services effectively, so that young people know that they are there.
The Government says that organisations working with young people should work together to deliver the following:
-
Positive activities – a varied menu of things to do outside of school hours.
-
Information, advice and guidance – to help young people make up their minds about their future education, training and employment choices, as well as offering advice on other issues that concern them.
-
Targeted youth support – specific services and additional support offered to the young people who need it most.
In Leicester, we also want to ensure we provide and support a high quality workforce that engage with young people so the IYS links into joint work to follow supported by the Children’s Workforce Development Council www.leicester.gov.uk/childrensworkforcestrategy.
Nationally, young people have also been asked what they want to get out of youth services in their area. They have said that they expect local councils to work with their partners to offer them:
- Somewhere to go;
- Something to do; and
- Someone to talk to
3. Who will it affect?
The Integrated Youth Support Strategy will affect all those who work with young people, for example:
-
various teams within the city council;
-
the Connexions youth advice and careers service;
-
providers of positive activities and targeted support who are commissioned by the council; and
-
out-of-school support provision offered by schools and colleges.
4. What will it mean for young people?
The Integrated Youth Support Strategy will mean that young people have:
Somewhere to go – attractive and accessible venues where young people can go to “chill out”, meet friends, engage in a range of activities and access support if they need to.
Something to do – a choice of varied activities to participate in out of school hours or in their leisure time that are available both locally and across the city.
Someone to talk to - access to skilled and supportive staff able to listen to young people, who are trained and qualified to give the right information and guidance and who know where to suggest a young person goes to get further advice if needed.
The Integrated Youth Support Strategy means that young people will be involved in the process of designing and reviewing the delivery of existing and/or new services. Young people will also get the chance to directly influence how some provision is commissioned and developed.
5. What needs to be done?
We have set up a number of work areas which bring together the work that needs to be done for the strategy under easily identifiable themes. All these work areas are then set against an expected timetable for completion so that we can check and monitor the project progress. Find out more about the work areas by visiting our project reports and information page.
6. Who is going to be involved?
The project manager is Justin Fielder. Overall progress is reported to the Integrated Services Programme Board.
Work streams are led and managed by an officer group consisting of Heads of Service within Access, Inclusion and Partnership, the Head of Youth Offending Services and the Connexions Area Manager.
7. When will this happen?
As this is being led by Leicester City Council, we will be producing a report that sets out:
- thinking on how services can be organised in the future; and
- the priority areas of work that need to be addressed during 2009-2010; and
- the priority needs of young people that need to be addressed
This paper will go to Cabinet for discussion in September 2009 and we anticipate work on implementing the recommendations can commence in October 2009 onwards.
8. Who can I contact about the Integrated Youth Support Strategy?
If you wish to contact someone regarding the development of the Integrated Youth Support Strategy in Leicester you can contact:
Justin Fielder
Senior Project Manager
Justin.Fielder@leicester.gov.uk
0116 252 6042
