Guidance for local authorities on services to improve young people's wellbeing

What is it all about? The government wants to retain the duty on local authorities, set out in the Education Act 2006, to secure sufficient educational and recreational leisure-time activities for the improvement of the wellbeing of 13- to 19-year-olds. But it says the current guidance on how local authorities should fulfil their obligations, drawn up under the previous Labour government, is too long.

What are the main points? The draft revised guidance outlines actions local authorities should take when developing an offer to young people. It specifies that the government will not prescribe which services and activities authorities should fund or deliver.

Instead, it sets out 11 suggestions for what authorities should be doing, including supporting parents and communities to meet young people’s needs "wherever possible" and considering how programmes such as the National Citizen Service can benefit participants.

It also states that authorities should determine which services and facilities need public funding and which don’t, so that cash is targeted at young people at risk of poor outcomes. The consultation documents reveal that the government has plans in place to intervene in areas where sufficient services are not on offer. A new sector-led system for improvement support and challenge, through the Children’s Improvement Board (CIB), will be introduced to help local authorities improve outcomes for children, young people and families. 

If, despite sector-led improvement support and challenge, there is evidence that a local authority is failing in any respect to perform the relevant statutory functions to an adequate standard or at all, ministers "will not hesitate to exercise their powers of intervention," the consultation documents state.

Who can have their say? Local authorities, young people, schools, parents, carers and organisations working with young people are encouraged to respond. www.education.gov.uk/consultations

When does it close? Friday 25 May 2012

When will the results be published? A summary of the responses to this consultation and the final revised guidance will be published on the Department for Education website in the summer.