Young people in London: policy engagement and consultation

Report: 6
Date: 28 November 2000
By: Clerk

Summary

The GLA has set up an officers’ working group to consider how the GLA and each of the functional bodies, including the MPA, engages young people. This report is presented to inform members of the initial work of the working group and seek support for officers’ involvement in progressing this area of work.

Supporting information

1. The GLA has identified key policy areas over which it has influence and which are pertinent to young people. It is eager to develop a ‘youth agenda’ for London, covering policies and issues that young people and young people organisations have raised with the Mayor and over which the GLA and functional bodies have a responsibility and/or the power to influence. These include:

• Transport
• Crime, personal safety and policing
• Education, skills, employment and regeneration
• Culture and sport
• Equalities
• Citizenship and political participation

2. An officer working group has been set up to take forward developments in this area, and to develop a youth policy agenda and strategy across core GLA and functional bodies. Each functional body will be required to contribute towards this strategy, including taking the lead, where appropriate, in implementing specific areas of work.

3. A number of actions/principles were identified which can be pursued immediately. Other areas were identified, including ‘quick wins’ that can be promoted to the youth population in London. A small number of short term activities were proposed. These include:

• inviting key organisations to a policy roundtable in early 2001;
• generating demographic data in order to identify the ‘youth population’ in London;
• developing means of direct consultation with young people;
• supporting youth empowerment processes;
• supporting events and organisations which promote citizenship and young people’s political participation.

4. The MPA has a particular interest in improving the involvement of young people in the policing service in key areas of its work including community relations, consultation and recruitment. The Youth Strategies work area is therefore likely to enable and assist the work of the MPA/MPS in engaging with young people.

5. This report recommends that the CDO Committee give its full support to developing a ‘common purpose’ with the GLA with regard to engaging young people. This will result in a greater of approach coherence with other functional bodies, and the opportunity to contribute in partnership with the functional bodies, Government departments, other pan London organisations, youth groups and young people in order to ensure that the strategy developed is relevant to the lives and expectations of young people in the metropolis.

6. The officer group has identified a number of specific issues for consideration:

• the terms of reference and status of this officer group;
• a common definition of young people;
• shared baseline demographic and trend information;
• co-ordination between the statutory and voluntary sectors at pan-London and borough levels;
• recruitment and pre-recruitment issues and practice;
• consultation of young people;
• empowerment and capacity building;
• the role of the boroughs and standardising the quality of youth services in these;
• existing and future funding streams;
• identifying short-term wins but also a long-term strategy;
• a youth rights framework.

7. The MPS may already have significant involvement in most, if not all, the identified subject areas, particularly at borough level, and MPA officers will need to work closely with the MPS in taking forward any related work. It should also be noted that the best value review of consultation has covered much of the ground identified by the working group and subsequent action can be undertaken as an integral part of implementing the consultation strategy as and when it has been approved.

8. In the first place, the officer group has asked the MPA to identify the level of youth-related activities carried out by itself and the MPS, find out who is being consulted and identify resources that are directed towards young people. This report seeks Members approval for carrying out an outline review.

B. Recommendations

That the Committee:

1. note the proposed policy development on engagement with young people by the GLA and other functional bodies and support full participation by the MPA in this initiative;
2. support the recommendation of the office group that a high level generic audit be undertaken by the MPS and MPA to identify specific activities, programmes and budgets that are targeted towards ‘youth engagement’ in order to identity London’s youth population; and
3. support the importance of contribute to the demographic analysis of youth people in London and assist the working group in the achievement of the stated objectives of developing a Youth Strategy for London.

C. Financial implications

Approximately five officer working days would be needed to co-ordinate the audit and produce a report. It is suggested that an officer from the current MPA establishment leads this work with co-operation sought from the MPS. There are likely to be some financial implications arising from MPA participation in specific activities. Currently, the working group have not yet identified these.

D. Review arrangements

The CDO Committee will be kept regularly briefed on the progress of the Working Group.

E. Background papers

The following is a statutory list of background papers (under the Local Government Act 1972 S.100 D) which disclose facts or matters on which the report is based and which have been relied on to a material extent in preparing this report. They are available on request to either the contact officer listed above or to the Clerk to the Police Authority at the address indicated on the agenda.

• GLA Briefing: Young People in London: Policy, Engagement and Consultation

F. Contact details

The authors of this report are Jude Sequeira and Julia Smith.

For information contact:

MPA general: 020 7202 0202
Media enquiries: 020 7202 0217/18

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