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Beacon Councils – Positive youth engagement

Background 

The eight local councils which were awarded Beacon Council status for ‘Positive Youth Engagement’ in March 2006 were:

1. Gateshead Metropolitan District Council
2. City of Wakefield Metropolitan Borough Council
3. West Sussex County Council
4. Derwentside District Council
5. Lancashire County Council
6. London Borough of Lewisham
7. South Norfolk District Council and Norfolk County Council
8. Wirral Metropolitan Borough Council

The eight winners were a broad spectrum of different types of authority, from London metropolitan to the very rural, with six of the nine English regions represented.

The positive youth engagement beacons jointly and individually:

• provided direct support and practical examples to assist those working with young people in a range of settings enabling them to address the Hear By Right framework
• provided direct support and practical examples of how to engage senior decision makers in local authorities with regard to the youth agenda
• worked with national bodies, using the combined experience of beacon authorities to provide advice and recommendations to inform emerging policy and practice.

Beacon Peer Support Fund

Beacon Peer Support Fund was an additional £2m that was allocated to the Beacon Scheme in 2005 by CLG. All Round 7 Beacons (2005/06) made a bid for a share of the £2m Beacon Peer Support Fund in 2007.

CLG asked Government departments leading on a theme to match fund the share that DCLG awarded the Beacons. DCLG awarded the Beacon’s approximately £200k per theme if their bid was successful. Therefore OTS match funded the project with a further £200k to achieve the objectives below.

We worked with the Beacons on the theme of ‘Positive Youth Engagement’ towards a policy development proposal. The Beacons provided CLG with a joint proposal to inform our policies to implement the Russell Commission recommendation 9 at local level. Their objectives were to cover some or all of the following:

• To create opportunities for young people to volunteer both to shape and work in local services, for example in hospitals, schools, parks and sports, leisure and arts centres.
• To pilot work with specific groups of young people identified in PSA 4 – people without qualifications, limiting long-term illness and BME groups.
• To pilot work to overcome barriers to young people’s involvement identified by Beacon Councils and Cabinet Office.
• To provide recommendations and advice resulting from funded work to inform Cabinet Office policy in this area.

The two year programme created a range of support projects to develop. test and validate approaches to engage young people in public services. Young people were involved in strategic planning, delivery and service evaluation providing volunteering opportunities to both shape and work in local public services.

A legacy website resource called ‘Doers and Shapers’ was set up last year and is hosted by the National Youth Agency.

To find out more visit:

• National Youth Agency [external website]