Scrutiny group gives young people more say

Affording young people more say over the services affecting them is central to the government’s vision for the future of youth provision.

Although children’s minister Tim Loughton’s desire for young people to inspect and audit local provision may take a while to develop, he is aiming to set a national example by establishing a National Scrutiny Group.

Consisting of 15 members aged between 12 and 19, the group will advise ministers on the impact of government policy on young people.

James Cathcart, chief executive of the British Youth Council, which is co-ordinating the group, says he is mindful of concerns that the scheme could be seen as a tokenistic gesture, but believes the group is “a step forward compared to no step at all”.

“There is good evidence of local authorities having a track record of supporting the concept of participation, despite difficult resource decisions,” he says. “The missing bit was the national dimension, which this group goes some way to addressing.

“We are committed to it being genuine and transparent and as effective as possible. It has only met once and we will evaluate things as we go and improve as we get feedback, until we get it as close to the best model we can.”

Regardless of the structure, Cathcart concedes that the effectiveness and credibility of the group relies on the degree of “buy-in” from government departments. “While we all know that Tim Loughton gave the group the go-ahead, it will depend on other departments,” he says.

The scrutiny group is one element of a wider network, and will be informed by regional meetings and focus groups that gather the views of local young people. It will also be connected to local authority youth councils and the UK Youth Parliament.

The group is exploring ways of receiving views from young people not associated with youth organisations through Facebook, to allow them to judge how representative and effective the scrutiny group is.

In addition, information on the demographics of the group, featuring breakdowns of ethnicity, religious beliefs, sexuality and gender, have been published (see box).

Freedom and flexibility

Jake Pitt, 16, who represents the south west of England, is confident that the group will make a difference to youth policy. He believes the group’s freedom and flexibility to scrutinise what it chooses affords it “real power”.

Pitt, who is a member of youth parliament for Mendip in Somerset, is keen to probe the government on the care system.

“We have seen through various reports that young people are not necessarily getting the right help when they need it and so much money is being spent on children in care services that we would like to see more focused around what young people in care want,” he says.

“Authorities should be listening more to children in care councils to ensure services are fit for those they are provided for.”

Jana Hunter, 15, who represents the south east, is keen to look into issues around mental health and education. “Mental health is something that affects many young people – although they may not actually realise it,” she says.

“I would like to find out what the government is actually doing to tackle the issue. I want to know what it does to help young people deal with it, how it promotes mental health services and what it does to support parents and schools to deal with it. In schools, personal, social, health and economic education is an essential, but I’ve never really heard of a school discussing mental health issues.”

She also has reservations about potential changes to the examination system, outlined by Education Secretary Michael Gove in June. “I had a look at the old O-level papers and, in my opinion, compared to what I am studying now they were very much easier,” she says. “I want to know why they want to make such a big change to the education system and whether it is necessary.”

Fahmida Khan, 16, one of three members representing London, was attracted to the position after spending time studying politics at college. “I have noticed that young people never have a say in scrutinising legislation and what will affect them,” she says.

“I thought it was interesting to have the chance to do that. There are always problems going on with the economy and I’m really interested in that as well as issues around tuition fees.

“I think for change to happen, the government has to be aware of what young people are concerned about. At the first meeting, the minister was really keen and friendly and wanted to understand how we felt about the topics we were talking about. I think they are really interested in what young people have to say.”