The Government will come down hard on local authorities that fail to provide an adequate youth and community service, Ivan Lewis, the minister for young people and learning, has revealed.
He told the annual conference of the Community and Youth Workers Union in Eastbourne that councils shirking their duties faced legal action and risked having youth work funds withheld.
“Quite frankly, the behaviour of certain local authorities is unacceptable,” he said. He said where youth work was underfunded, ministers would consider using new powers to order local authorities to act.
A well-staffed and funded youth service, he said, was vital to the success of Connexions, the new careers advice and guidance service for 13 to 19-year-olds launched last April.
Before the conference, he told The TES that Connexions would play a crucial role in fighting street crime by tackling the problems of the 180,000 16 to 19-year-olds who are neither in education or work. But he was concerned that local authorities had cut the youth service from 10,000 to 5,000 staff in the past five years.
Much of the extra pound;49m from government for the youth service was intended for local authorities “but it has to be earned,” he said.
Mr Lewis told the CYWU conference that he wants the Office for Standards in Education to introduce a far more rigorous system that would follow council inspections.
He also called on the Local Government Association to press local authorities to justify or reverse decisions likely to damage the youth service.
His remarks were applauded by delegates who have long felt negelcted by the Government. Mr Lewis said youth workers had an economic as well as a social role, improving communication, better behaviour and social skills - qualities that employers were looking for.
CWYU general secretary Doug Nicholls said: “Conference should register the sea change. This is the first time we have a minister who is not only promising but actually starting to deliver.”
CYWU report, 33
