DfES plans Green Paper on youth

A green paper on youth is planned for the autumn, the Department
for Education and Skills has revealed in its five-year strategy,
writes Clare Jerrom.

The department said it will publish a cross-government
consultation to develop thinking about the issue with all those who
will be involved, including young people and parents.

Children’s minister Margaret Hodge said the whole area of
support for teenagers and young people was a challenge for the
government and that “the time has come to look again at how
they [existing initiatives] fit together”.

The green paper will set out plans to address this and ensure
there is “a coherent and comprehensive offer of places to go
and things to do, and offer advice and guidance to help with the
hard choices teenagers must make about their personal lives as well
as their educational direction”.

The National Council for Voluntary Youth Services and National
Youth Agency are to convene a working group to assist the
government in developing the green paper.

Welcoming the announcement, NCVYS chief executive Susanne
Rauprich said: “This will precipitate a national political
discourse on young people’s issues and will lead to the
concerns of young people, one of the most disenfranchised groups in
society, finally receiving the focus they deserve.”