Positive Activities

On 30 April 2009 the Minister for Children, Young People and Families wrote to all Directors of Children’s Services asking them to lead a transformation of positive activities for young people. A copy of the letter is available here.

The letter invited authorities to take part in an open weekend on 10 and 11 July to showcase what activities they are offering to young people in their area

 

Latest News Improving participation in positive activities The Youth Task Force are working with GOSE and Children's Trusts to ensure young people have a comprehensive offer of positive activities that is attractive to young people in each local authority area. This will lead to young people making positive choices on how they spend their spare time. Ensuring there are sufficient attractive positive activities is a statutory duty on the local authority. You may be interested to know that DCSF has announced improved systems for gaining an understanding of participation in Positive Activities. This is contained within the weekly DCSF email that is available here: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/news-and-communications/la-weekly-email/laemail12november09/ This information relates to two exercises that have been developed. These will provide useful data to show how many activities are on offer to young people on each day of the week and when combined with the CCIS and TellUs data on the participation of young people this will provide a comprehensive benchmark on both the offer and uptake of positive activities. By having better information on availability of activities and knowledge of gaps there will be a greater opportunity for services to ensure there is comprehensive coverage for young people that is effectively mapped. In addition to the note in the DCSF weekly email you may want to see additional documents that have been published in the Youth section of the DCSF website here: http://www.dcsf.gov.uk/everychildmatters/resources-and-practice/IG00628/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Background on Positive Activities

Policy
Aiming High for young people: a 10 year strategy for positive activities was published by DCSF in July 2007.

It sets out the vision for the support and opportunities that need to be made available for young people. There are six key elements:

1. Rebalancing the public narrative about young people – counteracting the unrelenting negative perception of young people by celebrating the achievements of the majority
2. Empowering young people to increase their influence over the design and delivery of services for them
3. Increasing the number of local places for young people to go
4. Removing barriers and supporting young people to access local opportunities and services for them
5. Improving the capacity and quality of services for young people
6. Supporting and developing the youth workforce.

The Aiming High Implementation Plan was published in March 2008.

The Youth Crime Action Plan was published in July 2008 and is a joint plan from DCSF, Home Office and the Ministry of Justice. This promotes positive activities as an effective measure to reduce anti social behaviour by young people.

Legislation
Section 6 of the Education & Inspections Act 2006 came into force in April 2007. This amends the Education Act 1996. It states that Local Authorities must secure for young persons aged 13-19 (up to 24 if they have a learning disability) access to:

(a) sufficient educational leisure-time activities, and
(b) sufficient recreational leisure-time activities

The authority must take steps to ascertain and to take into account the views of young persons about activities and facilities, the need for additional activities and facilities and access to these.

They must publicise up-to-date information about positive leisure-time activities, and facilities for such activities, in the authority’s area.

Additionally Local Authorities are required under Section 17 of the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 (as amended) to consider the impact of every decision they make on their duty to reduce crime, anti social behaviour (ASB), the misuse of drugs and alcohol and to consider the impact on the environment of that decision. It is known that many young people are involved in ASB because there is nothing for them to do and authorities should be considering the impact of their offer of positive activities in relation to ASB.

Statutory Guidance and National Standards
Statutory Guidance on positive activities has been published by DCSF: It sets out the national standards for positive activities:

• Access to two hours per week of sporting activity and other physical activities such as aerobics and dance
• Access to two hours per week of other constructive activities in clubs, youth groups and classes. This includes activities in which young people pursue their interests and hobbies; activities contributing to their personal, social and spiritual development; activities encouraging creativity; innovation and enterprise; study support; and residential opportunities.
• Opportunities to make a positive contribution to their community through volunteering, including leading action, campaigning and fundraising
• A wide range of other recreational, cultural, sporting and enriching experiences
• A range of safe and enjoyable places in which to spend time. This could simply be somewhere to socialise with friends.

To find out more, please see:

• How they measure positive activities
• financial information about positive activities

The following document contains a list of links to websites in SE publicising activities for young people.

The policy lead on Positive Activities in GOSE is Liz Butcher, email: liz.butcher@gose.gsi.gov.uk

Many young people are affected by the anti social behaviour of others and there are occasions when the behaviour of some young people is deemed to be anti social. For more information on what can be done to tackle anti social behaviour, please go to the Anti Social Behaviour page of the GOSE website.

For more information on the Department for Children, Schools and Families policy and activities on 'Aiming High for Young People: the 10 year strategy on positive activities' visit the youth pages of the DCSF website.

If you would like more information on supporting access to Positive Activities please download this transport guidance jointly produced by DCSF, Dept for Transport and the National Youth Agency.

The DCSF Information and Signposting Project (ISP) has been working with twenty local authorities to learn about the challenges associated with meeting the duty to provide young people with sufficient positive leisure time activities. Through the use of Substance’s 'Plings' platform it has involved the piloting of fresh approaches to gathering, managing and sharing positive activity information. This document aims to share the learning from the first year of the project and includes practical step-by-step guidance, addressing each of these three areas, to help local authorities benefit from it. You can view the document at:
http://publications.everychildmatters.gov.uk/default.aspx?PageFunction=productdetails&PageMode=publications&ProductId=DCSF-01077-2009

You may also like to see the 'Plings' website at: http://plings.net/