A society that is ‘positive for youth’ values young people and makes every effort to help them and their families. This means a good education, opportunities to develop their own unique talents and early help with any problems. We want young people – whatever their background or circumstances – to be able to fulfill their potential, get a good job and enjoy creating their own family life. Public services, local communities and businesses all have a part to play.

This paper looks at what we know of the development of the adolescent brain and seeks to identify key messages which have relevance to the Department’s priorities and which may help promote positive brain development and outcomes. There are no particular questions on this paper though comments are welcome.

Many private sector companies and their employees give time and money to support young people and organisations that work with them. There are some good examples of organisations that effectively broker these relationships, such as Business in the Community and the range of local Education Business Partnerships. However businesses and intermediaries tell us wider scale improved brokerage is needed to attract more businesses to engage with young people. This could help to create new opportunities for investment, act as a contact point for sponsorship opportunities and encourage leading businesses to act as youth champions. The Government intends to provide £70,000 in 2011-12 and £250,000 in 2012-13 to help scale up and improve brokerage between businesses and the youth sector. This note seeks views by 15 September on what priorities this money should address and how we can best build on existing arrangements to increase significantly the number of businesses involved with out-of-school services for young people.

The Government has given local areas more power and responsibility to decide how to use the funding they have to improve the lives of children, young people and families. To make good decisions about how to use this money, decision makers need better information about how effective services are at making a difference to the things that are most important to them. They also need to more often look widely to find the organisations that can make best use of available funding, and think carefully about how services are organised to make them most effective. We want to know how you think this can best be achieved.

This paper looks at what kinds of help young people need to do well in education or training and go on to get a good job. Most 16-18 year olds are engaged in education or training, but there are some who are not in education, employment or training (sometimes referred to as NEET). These young people are more likely to suffer from poor outcomes later on, like unemployment, low pay and depression, so we are particularly keen to prevent young people from becoming NEET. This paper seeks examples of effective practice and views on the following questions: o How well do services to support young people into learning and work fit together on the ground? We would be interested in any examples of good practice and areas of challenge, including on issues around referral mechanisms and information sharing. o Are there overlaps and gaps between services, particularly for those young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) or at risk of becoming NEET? How best can these be addressed? o We want to ensure that services and support fit together for 18 year olds as they make the transition from young people’s to adult services. How can roles and responsibilities be best aligned to support young people at this crucial stage?

This paper explains the development opportunity National Citizen Service (NCS) will offer young people and explores how NCS could contribute to further development of services for young people through providing a universal reference point at age 16. This is an opportunity for organisations and individuals to provide comments and responses to the following four questions: How can NCS be developed to best achieve the intended benefits for young people? What are the mechanisms for ensuring all young people are able to participate in NCS, including those least likely to participate? How can NCS best engage volunteers, businesses and wider society to contribute to enhance the NCS experience for young people? How can we best capacity build the skill sets needed to deliver NCS, including delivery of personal and social development programmes to social mixed groups?

Most young people are not involved in crime and do not misuse drugs or alcohol. We want to make sure that this is recognised and to improve the help that is available to those young people who are at risk from these problems. Help needs to be available earlier, before problems get too serious. For example, young people who have problems with truancy or being excluded from school are more likely than others to go on to be affected by crime (including as a victim). Young people who are bullied are much more likely to have problems with alcohol and young people running away from home or from care can be a warning sign that something else is wrong. We need to make sure that all the people working or volunteering to help young people understand how these problems are connected. We also want to make sure that they have evidence of what the best ways of providing support are - learning from what other parts of the UK or from international evidence. We would welcome comments and views on the proposals set out in this paper and particularly: a. How can National Government best support local areas to commission integrated services? b. What is the key learning from previous national or local programmes that needs to be preserved? c. What other roles does National Government need to play in this policy area? d. How do we best support schools to work more effectively with local substance misuse and crime prevention agencies?

This paper identifies the main types of services which young people use. It explains what benefits they are trying to achieve for young people. It distinguishes between services which are for all young people such as schools and colleges, and those services which are for smaller numbers of young people with particular needs. It says that the Government wants public money for out-of-school services to concentrate more on helping the most disadvantaged, and that it would like to see more voluntary organisations delivering services to young people. We would welcome comments and views on the following questions: • Are the proposed outcomes the right ones for local services to young people and are the listed indicators the best measures of progress? • What are the practical implications of focusing public funding on targeted support and greater diversity of providers and how these might best be addressed, including: (i) How can LAs and central government best enable community organisations to offer positive activities to local young people? (ii) what local arrangements for identifying young people who need targeted support are likely to be most effective? (iii) how can continuity of support be achieved for young people, particularly in the transition to adult services?; and (iv) how can the expertise of youth workers and other professional staff best be utilised? • How can local services best engage with parents and families to prevent poor outcomes for young people? • Examples of good practice or innovative delivery of services for young people for possible further dissemination are invited.

Following the Positive for Youth summit on 9 March 2011, the Department for Education is working collaboratively with other Government Departments and its partners and stakeholders to develop a new vision for young people and services for young people. The summit brought together Ministers from 7 Government Departments with nearly 300 adults and young people to discuss the key issues facing young people and services for young people. Supporting vulnerable young people by refocusing youth services on early intervention was one of the issues discussed at the Summit. The Department for Education will continue to develop proposals on this issue in the light of the Summit and through ongoing dialogue to inform a new statement of Government policy on services for young people later in 2011. DfE would welcome comments and views on what more could be done to: • support the most vulnerable young people by refocusing services on early intervention; and • make best use of available funding.

Local authority–funded services to young people are facing significant budget pressures. There are immediate practical challenges to local authority decision-makers, senior managers and commissioners. The Local Government Group has a £900k support offer to local authorities, funded through a topslice of Revenue Support Grant. The Government is prepared to commit supplementary funding of up to £230k in 2011-12 and £550k in 2012-13 to ensure local authorities get the support they need. This support will be sector-led and through this note the LG Group and DfE are consulting the local government sector on the use of this additional funding. Views are invited from local authorities by 15 September so this can be put in place as soon as possible.

This paper provides an overview of current research and analysis that underpins DfE policy development for young people and out-of-school services. A second paper, Young people today – statistics on young people’s lives, provides an overview of statistics concerning young people’s lives. This paper reviews the numbers and types of young people who might need support, the reasons for investing during the teenage years and the costs of not doing so. It also looks at the skills and experiences young people need to progress to adulthood and the role services, and the youth sector workforce, can play in developing these. This paper is provided for information

Following the Positive for Youth summit on 9 March 2011, the Department for Education is working collaboratively with other Government Departments and its partners and stakeholders to develop a new vision for young people and services for young people. The summit brought together Ministers from 7 Government Departments with nearly 300 adults and young people to discuss the key issues facing young people and services for young people. Supporting a wider range of providers to offer services to young people was one of the issues discussed at the Summit. The Department for Education will continue to develop proposals on this issue in the light of the Summit and through ongoing dialogue to inform a new statement of Government policy on services for young people later in 2011. DfE would welcome comments and views on what more could be done to • increase contestability in the market for services for young people; • grow the role of voluntary, community and social enterprise organisations; • help youth organisations to prepare for and benefit from social investment; and • encourage a greater sense of responsibility among communities, including the business community, for young people and the sustainability of local community-led youth provision.

Many private sector companies and their employees already give time and money to support young people and the organisations that work with them. This helps young people and brings benefits to their businesses. We want to know how you think more companies can be encouraged to get involved in supporting young people. What brokerage arrangements are already in place and how can we best build on them to increase significantly the number of businesses involved with out-of-school services for young people? What else can be done to support more businesses to get involved, particular at a local community level, and to influence them to work collaboratively and strategically by area or region? What is needed to increase the capacity of VCSOs to work with volunteers and to increase further the level of volunteering by private sector employees and those who have recently retired? How can businesses and their employees be encouraged to develop a more positive attitude towards young people?

With growing pressure on budgets the future of many youth facilities is in question. Some may be transferred from public ownership to the local community, others may be closed down. In the future, more services for young people may be delivered from multi-use or community facilities to share overhead costs with other services. Yet in some places, new dedicated facilities are being built with strong support from the local public, voluntary and private sectors. We want to know what type of facilities you think are needed to support work with different groups of young people and how these facilities can be made viable and sustainable in the long term. This paper explores the need for a capital infrastructure to support work with young people and how it can best be sustained. In particular, it asks: a. In what circumstances are dedicated youth facilities the best environment to deliver services to young people and how can they be viable and sustainable in the long term? b. What are the benefits and limitations of delivering services to young people through multi-use facilities, and how can more community facilities be made attractive and accessible to young people? c. In what circumstances can facilities on school or college sites offer attractive and sustainable environments for services to young people? and d. What examples are there of innovative ways to deliver high quality sustainable facilities for young people?

This paper examines the importance of the role of parents in the lives of young people. Most young people grow up without any problems, but some parents may want or need additional help to support their children, particularly in coping with issues which can become exacerbated during these the teenage years. A small proportion of these parents may need more intensive support. This paper: - identifies the support available, including that which will form part of the national programme to support troubled families - highlights the importance of joined-up working between services when supporting young people - asks how services for young people, including schools, can do more to engage parents, particularly those of teenagers with specialist needs such as SEND.

The paper looks at current arrangements for the training and development of adults working in services for young people. It identifies the changes in Government policy and funding which make a difference to the things people working in these services need to know or do to be effective. It asks whether these changes have been accurately identified and what the other implications for training and development might be. It also asks for examples of where local authorities or providers have successfully changed their workforce development plans to meet changing needs. It sets out the principle that employers must take the lead in identifying and meeting the training and development needs of their staff, and set out what the Government is doing to support the voluntary and community sector in doing this. Finally it seeks views on what more might be done to put effective employer-led national arrangements in place to support workforce development.

This paper sets out some key facts and figures about young people today. In doing so it illustrates that young people are an extremely diverse group experiencing a range of different family, economic, social and cultural circumstances. The paper also highlights the wide range of issues facing young people and the variety of activities that they are involved in. Although a minority of young people are engaged in risky, problem behaviours it is clear that young people also take part in a range of pro-social activities and make a positive contribution to society. There are no questions associated with this paper

This paper follows our health and wellbeing discussions at the Youth Summit in March. It looks at how we can further improve young people’s health and wellbeing for all young people as well as those in need of specialist services. It is broadly aimed at commissioners or providers of young people’s services, but we also want to hear from young people themselves. The paper asks what has been successful– and what more needs to be done - to make progress in areas such as: access to services and information (including use of technology), tackling alcohol and substance misuse, improving mental health and reducing teenage pregnancy/improving sexual health. Young people need adults to understand their way of life, how and when they want to access services and how professionals should treat them. We’ve done some work on this through You’re Welcome but want you to tell us where this has worked and why? We want to hear examples of really good PSHE/SRE in schools and/or colleges. We want young people’s voices heard in the design, commissioning, delivery and assessment of services. We’d like to hear where local areas have got this right and how others could do this. We understand that when young people want to talk about health they want to talk to somebody they trust, somebody who understands them and how they deal with issues. Sometimes that might be a non-health professional such as a youth worker. We’d like to hear about good examples of workforce training programmes - particularly those which have involved young people. Peer support can be really valuable. We’d like to hear local programmes that have worked well in schools, colleges or other youth settings. We want good examples where local areas have made a real difference in young people’s mental health. What have they done to address stigma? How have schools and colleges been involved? Where have local areas managed to bridge the gap between children’s and adults services? What role has the voluntary sector played? We also want to know about local areas that have made a real impact in reducing risky behaviours – for example bringing together support to reduce drug/alcohol misuse and risky sexual behaviour. How have they done this and what impact has it had on young people? What were the key ingredients that influenced young people in the choices they made? And finally, we want to know what you think central government’s role is in improving young people’s health and wellbeing. What should government be doing to support young people themselves in looking after their health and making well informed choices? And how best can government support local areas in assessing and meeting the health needs of their young people?

The Government is committed to young people involved in public decision-making. It believes Government Departments and Local Authorities should do this as a matter of course. There is some way to go to make this the normal way of doing business. The Government will therefore provide some funding for national and local work to promote youth participation in England and to sustain the UK Youth Parliament. This note seeks views on what priorities this money should address. We will be able to consider any comments received by 7th June before we invite external organisations to set out proposals to deliver the services we want to fund. Views are invited on: • the detail of what needs our funding should be addressing; • the balance to be struck between the local and national focus; and • the target age range for support. We would welcome comments and views on the approach as a whole and, in particular on the issues set out below: Comments and suggestions are invited about the priority needs that should be addressed and the right balance between national and local focus. Comments and suggestions are invited on the age range to be covered by these arrangements.

We want all young people to have a positive and active role in their communities and wider society, and want your views on how we can achieve this. Many young people already volunteer, and some are involved in formal decision-making in their local areas. We want to build on this and are asking how we can encourage more young people to be active citizens in their communities. Many young people feel they are portrayed unfairly in newspapers, radio and television, with too much focus on the things some young people do that are wrong, not enough on the good things they do, and not enough representation of their viewpoints. Of course Government cannot tell a free media what stories to cover and how, but we want to hear ideas on how unfair negative perceptions of young people could be addressed. We would welcome comments and views on what needs to be done to enhance young people’s role in society and in particular on the questions below: Beyond formal decision-making processes, what are effective ways of engaging young people in the life of their communities? How can volunteering by young people be effectively encouraged? How can young people be involved more directly in the delivery of services? What are the most effective ways to counter negative perceptions of young people? How can young people best be supported to present their achievements and perspectives themselves?