The government is in a race against time if it is to build on the successes of last year’s summer holiday schemes to occupy young people. Kate Coxon reports.

The arrival of the summer holidays often sees a rise in low level crime in some areas with many teenagers unoccupied.

As a result, summer activity programmes for young people have been a feature of the government’s commitment to reduce street crime. An evaluation of last year’s £16m Connexions Summer Plus, a programme that targeted young people at risk, suggested that youth crime fell by up to 11 per cent in areas running the schemes, but increased by 10 per cent in areas without Summer Plus.

This year the Department for Education and Skills and the New Opportunities Fund are joining forces with the Youth Justice Board, Home Office and Department for Culture, Media and Sport to combine existing schemes and launch a new Positive Activities for Young People programme in the summer, a joint initiative to support young people aged between eight and 19 who are referred and identified as living in a high risk area.

According to the DfES, "final budgets and an exciting new brand identity have yet to be confirmed" but the programme is expected to run over three years with combined budgets for the first year estimated to be in the region of £25m. The scheme is aimed at diverting young people at risk of social exclusion and committing crime, and encouraging engagement in communities.

A criticism made of similar schemes in the past, such as Splash and Splash Extra (run by youth offending teams) and Connexions Summer Plus is that the effects are short-lived. When the holidays end, so do the programmes and the young people return to their previous lives. But the Positive Activities programme is meant to address the long-term impact of antisocial behaviour more effectively. The DfES states that diversionary activities will be provided for the holidays, but that out-of-school activities will be available for young people throughout the year.

This issue of continuity is an important one, according to Pete Loewenstein of the National Youth Agency. "It’s a good thing that money is being made available this summer and in other holidays and that the government has listened to some of our concerns, but it’s also important that we work with young people at times that matter for them. It will be interesting to see how much these programmes will extend beyond the summer holiday - what about evenings, after school and weekends, and also half-terms?"

He is also keen that monitoring and evaluation is continuous. "The Youth Justice Board has evidence that similar programmes reduced offending last year, but we need to make sure we also look at offending patterns in those areas over the few months after the programme."

Sport - and football in particular - is seen as one way forward in crime reduction. Sport and team activities are thought to build self-esteem, increase skills and reduce problematic drugs use. Last month, the government announced £16.4m for the Positive Futures programme and launched 37 new projects for the scheme supporting young people by engaging them in sport, education, training and employment.

Gustavo Lastra, youth inclusion area manager for Nacro in Sheffield runs a year-round project to engage disaffected young people aged 14-19 through sport, particularly football in partnership with Sheffield Wednesday and Sheffield United football clubs. The project is part of Sheffield Futures, formed from the merger of the city’s careers guidance service and youth service, and one of the largest contributors to the Connexions service in the country. Additional, targeted activities such as football tournaments are laid on for the summer.

Lastra believes that summer programmes should not just be about entertaining young people through leisure. "There is an important educational role to be played here - we need to use activities as a springboard to get them into crime prevention activities and drug awareness sessions." He is cautious about the new initiative. "In the past, with schemes like these, big chunks of funding have gone to the main statutory agencies. In my opinion, they haven’t always delivered. I’d like to see more funding channelled through communities and different groups in the voluntary sector."

While Lastra says that it is right for the new programme to target only those individuals who are most at risk from offending or drug use, others, such as Loewenstein argue for a more inclusive, neighbourhood-wide approach. "It’s important that these activities are made available to whole neighbourhoods. There is research showing that if you target young offenders alone, you confirm them in their offending behaviour. Activities need to be seen as being for all young people, and not as ‘rewards’ - as some may see it - for ‘bad’ young people. We need to be sure that we are not further stigmatising one group of young people."

The Positive Activities programme with its scope for extension beyond the summer, is an exciting prospect. But at the end of the first week in June there was no information available about precise activities, final budgets, final areas, pilot areas or local delivery agents. It was not possible to speak with anyone who was going to be involved with the projects. Much it seems is still to be decided. Given the known difficulties of recruiting suitably qualified staff for seasonal programmes this is alarming. Let’s hope it gets going before the sun goes in.

Positive Activities for Young People: key features

• £25m for first year (funding for positive activities increased by 20 per cent from last year).
• Programme to be officially launched in July with a "new national identity".
• Programmes to run until March 2006 targeting young people at risk in areas hardest hit by crime, truancy and split communities.
• Diversionary activities with key worker support for those at risk (funded through Connexions partnerships).
• Quality arts, sports and cultural activities key objective of programme.
• Young people from different communities brought together to break down prejudices.
• Volunteering and active citizenship to promote community cohesion.
• Long-term focus: support beyond summer.

Connexions Summer Plus and Splash 2002: models for success?

Connexions Summer Plus:

• Over 10,000 young people aged 8-19 engaged in 34 Local Education Authority areas between July and September 2002.
• Early indications are that crime by young people decreased significantly more in Summer Plus areas than the rest of England.
• Qualitative interviews showed the effect of programmes was positive, with improvements in self-confidence, empathy for others and respect for authority figures.
• Initial data suggest a high proportion of those eligible are returning to school with renewed motivation.

Splash 2002 (Youth Justice Board):

• Over 15,000 young people involved in Summer Splash which targeted 13-17 year olds at risk in high crime neighbourhoods.
• Recreational activities (sports, music, drama, arts) run alongside support and advice sessions on sexual health, alcohol and drug abuse, personal health and hygiene and anger management. Vocational training provided by some schemes.
• Total crime fell in Splash areas by 7.4 per cent from June to August 2002 (compared with a 2.9 per cent increase in 2001 during the same period).
• Juvenile nuisance increased by only 0.1 per cent from June to August 2002 (compared with a 13.2 per cent increase in 2001 during the same period).

Cash at hand

A partnership in Hackney, north east London, is advertising for bids for a slice of £470,000 for providers of school holiday activities under the Positive Activities for Young People scheme. The money has come from the borough council, the New Opportunities Fund, Connexions London East, the Children’s Fund and Hackney’s privatised education provider the Learning Trust. Local voluntary sector groups will be eligible for the largest share of the money, but some will be saved for targeted programmes and services to be run by statutory sector organisations. Small groups and even individuals have also been invited to apply for sums up to £500 for day trips and equipment.