Update: July 2024

Pre-consultation workshops have taken place in youth centres with young people under sixteen, to get their input into the consultation design.

A range of pre-consultation meetings also took place with a sample of organisations working with children and young people who may experience barriers to participating in a consultation process. The purpose of this is to inform the design of the consultation, to ensure it is inclusive of the widest range of children and young people.

The first of six events focused on a young person’s vision for youth work, was delivered by the YPRG at Ulster University on the 29 June. It engaged approximately sixty young people and ten youth workers. Similar events will take place in Omagh and Derry/Londonderry. A further three events are being organised on the same theme, for children and young people with a disability, additional needs, or complex medical need. The purpose of these events are to facilitate young people to say what the vision for youth work in Northern Ireland should be.

Consultation sessions have begun taking place in youth settings which children and young people access. Over the coming month the YPRG will aim to consult a wide range and number of children and young people throughout Northern Ireland. If you are interested in the YPRG delivering a consultation session within your setting, please email us at Youth.Services@education-ni.org.uk for further details. The purpose of the consultations are to ensure the lived experience of children and young people are at the heart of the design of a new youth work policy.

The YPRG have completed a survey to capture a wide range of views from children and young people and this can be completed by clicking the following link: https://forms.office.com/e/TwG801GZyC This is open to any child or young person, aged 4-25 to complete including those who have not engaged in youth work.

POLICY REFERENCE GROUP (PRG)

A Policy Reference Group (PRG) has been operating since October 2023 (under agreed Terms of Reference) and meets on a monthly basis. The PRG includes representatives from across the statutory and voluntary youth work sectors and facilitates engagement on specific themes with stakeholders beyond PRG to help expand the reach of the policy review and consider a wide range of options and recommendations. The PRG is chaired by the DE Director with overarching responsibility for Youth Work Policy.

PRG has also established five subgroups under different thematic areas from across the sector. The sub-groups have been tasked with exploring a range of youth work themes, drawing on experience/expertise from the sector, taking into consideration existing research, and presenting recommendations to PRG by end March 2026.

Each subgroup has two Joint-Chairs, one each from the statutory and voluntary sectors. To ensure a direct link to PRG, all joint-chairs have been invited onto PRG.

The five thematic areas are:

• Accessibility, Inclusion, and Equity
• Delivery Innovation
• Strategic Engagement and Communications
• Workforce Development and Workforce Growth
• Youth Work for Young People

CROSS DEPARTMENTAL GROUP

The last cross departmental group meeting took place on 14th June 2024.

A summary of departmental returns in relation to government investment in Youth Services was discussed. Two Departments continue to work to complete their returns and information will be updated on receipt.

An update on the Young People’s Reference Group was provided by the DE facilitator with follow up discussions on how the co-design approach is evolving. Updates were also provided by DE on the Policy Reference Group and Project Board.

The ETI advice on the impact of the Education Authority’s new funding scheme on meeting the assessed needs of children and young people was outlined and discussed with the ETI representative attending.

PROJECT BOARD

A Project Board with overall responsibility for the management of the policy review has been established to oversee the policy review process. The purpose of the Project Board is to provide overall guidance and direction to the project, ensuring it remains viable and within any specified constraints, to ensure that risks are being tracked and managed as effectively as possible, to approve changes and to communicate with stakeholders as defined in the communication management approach in the Project Initiation Document (PID).

The Project Board has met three times since the Policy Review commenced and the meetings took place in December 2023, April 2024 and in June 2024. The next Project Board meeting is scheduled for September 2024.

A Young People’s Reference Group (YPRG) representative joined the Project Board in June 2024 and this will rotate between members of the YPRG for each meeting. The Project Board is chaired by the Department of Education’s Senior Responsible Owner (Qualifications, 14-19 strategy and youthwork Director) and members include the Education Authority’s Finance Director, the Assistant Director of Youth Services representing the statutory youth sector and The Northern Ireland Boys’ Brigade Chief Officer representing the voluntary & community sector.

The project is currently estimated to be 3-6 months behind the original schedule, though it was recognised that the plan would be likely to change as the work progressed and in response to findings. The timetable will be reviewed again following agreement of plans of the five Policy Review Group sub-groups established to consider specific elements within the agreed scope of the policy review.

The risk and issues register and the lessons learned log continue to be updated to reflect new information as it emerges.

A communications plan is being updated regularly. Stakeholder engagement letters have been issued to stakeholders to advise them of updates on the policy review on this website.

Engagement is also planned with groups who do not traditionally have a voice in youth services (eg: young people who have not engaged in youth services, marginalised and S75 groups). Business engagement with young people in schools and the community, and the potential benefits of youth groups collaborating with businesses, has also been considered by the Project Board.