An evidence review found that youth information/advice/counselling/support services were popular with, and well accessed by, young people; provided 'outstanding' outcomes; and gave value for money for commissioners across a range of policy areas.
Source: Steve Lee and James Kenrick, A Proven Early Intervention Model: the evidence for the effectiveness of Youth Information Advice Counselling and Support services (YIACS), Youth Access
Links: Report | Summary | Youth Access press release
Date: 2010-Dec
A report highlighted ways in which local authority youth work supported positive outcomes across a wide range of areas of young people's lives.
Source: Valuing Youth Work, National Youth Agency
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Nov
An official taskforce report made recommendations designed to uphold common professional standards in the careers profession, and help raise the status and integrity of career guidance.
Source: Careers Profession Task Force, Towards a Strong Careers Profession, Department for Education
Links: Report | DE press release | CMI press release | ICG press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A report said that there was a 'substantial divide' between what young people wanted from their careers advice at school and what they got, including the level of involvement of employers.
Source: Helping Young People Succeed: How employers can support careers education, Education and Employers Taskforce
Links: Report | EET press release | CMI press release
Date: 2010-Oct
A paper said that children and young people living in the countryside faced isolation, poor housing, and inadequate transport links – among other problems.
Source: Child in the Countryside: A Challenging Reality, Commission for Rural Communities/Countryside Agency
Links: Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Oct
A report highlighted the significant help that the Connexions (youth careers) service had given to a small number of young people in very specific circumstances: but a complementary report said that the vast majority of young people did not benefit to the same extent, turning instead for advice to trusted adults such as parents and teachers.
Source: Tamaris McCrone, Clare Gardiner, Clare Southcott and Gill Featherstone, Information, Advice and Guidance for Young People, Local Government Association | Tessa Hibbert, Face-to-Face: What young people think about information, advice and guidance, Local Government Association
Links: Report (1) | Report (2) | LGA press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Sep
The inspectorate for education and children's services said that targeted support from local authorities and their partners was helping to meet the needs of vulnerable young people in England. But local authorities had made 'limited progress' in involving voluntary, community, and private groups in providing youth services, and the focus on providing services for 'at risk' young people risked undermining the youth activities available to all young people.
Source: Supporting Young People: An evaluation of recent reforms to youth support services in 11 local areas, HMI 090226, Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills
Links: Report | OFSTED press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jul
A report set out why and how youth work was important and cost-effective and made a real difference to young people's lives.
Source: Viv Mckee, Carolyn Oldfield and Jo Poultney, The Benefits of Youth Work, Lifelong Learning UK/Unite
Links: Report
Date: 2010-May
A survey of young people's information, advice, counselling, and support services found a 'disturbing picture' of a sector almost overwhelmed by demand for its services while struggling to cope with reduced funding and overstretched capacity.
Source: Under Strain: How the recession is affecting young people and the organisations which provide advice, counselling and support to them, Youth Access
Links: Report | Youth Access press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Apr
A report examined progress during the first three years of the 'Aiming High' programme, designed to increase young people's participation in positive leisure-time activities.
Source: Aiming High for Young People: Three Years On, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Links: Report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report set out proposed measures for assessing the quality of integrated youth services.
Source: Better Never Stops: Quality and performance in integrated youth support services, Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services (and other organizations)
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Mar
A report highlighted the reasons why youth services were needed, and the difference they made to young people's lives.
Source: Viv McKee, Carolyn Oldfield and Jo Poultney, The Benefits of Youth Work, Unite/Lifelong Learning UK
Links: Report | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Mar
Researchers examined the 'Empowering Young People' pilots (designed to make funds available so that the most disadvantaged young people in nine pilot areas could access positive activities). Adult support, encouragement, direction, and motivation, were widely seen as a critical accompaniment to the finance in order for young people to participate at all, and to broaden the nature of the activities in which they participated.
Source: Gill Bielby et al., Empowering Young People Pilots Evaluation, Research Report RR206, Department for Children, Schools and Families
Date: 2010-Feb
A report said that an estimated workforce of about 6 million paid staff and volunteers worked with young people to support their personal and social development.
Source: David Mellor and Fran McDonnell, A Picture Worth Millions: The state of the young people's workforce, Children's Workforce Development Council
Links: Report | Summary | CWDC press release | Children & Young People Now report
Date: 2010-Jan