Cynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru | National Assembly for Wales

Pwyllgor Plant, Pobl Ifanc ac Addysg | Children, Young People and Education

Committee

CYPE(5)-10-16 – Papur | Paper 2 – papur i’w nodi | paper to note

Ymateb gan : Cymdeithas Llywodraeth Leol Cymru

Response from : Welsh Local Government Association

Youth Service mapping of vol sector organisations within local authority area

Ynys Mon

We have an SLA with the Urdd and YFC so they report annually on clubs, membership, programmes etc. I also attend their management meetings and some of their events so know what is going on with them. Scouts and guides report annually as part of the grant they receive, and they use our centres for some provision.  We work with the Management Committee of the Community Centre in one other village where they have secured additional funding for an additional worker in the youth club, and we co-manage that. We also liaise on a regular basis with Community First as to their provision (as they attend the 16+ Engagement Panel) and we have staff who work for both Communities First and us on different provisions.

 Other than that we don’t have a formal mapping exercise, but more of a ‘keeping in touch’ relationship.

Merthyr

We map the provision on offer through partnership arrangements with Communities First to ensure local intelligence on new groups because as you know anyone can establish a provision.  This information is collated onto internal data systems. Alongside this any grants administered through the authority share information with this system. In a final analysis our data mapping is cross referenced to that of the local voluntary sector support agency.

Caerphilly

Caerphilly incorporates support arrangements for Youth Support Services within a broader network of support for services 0-25 (as per the current Families First ethos). The current ‘mapping’ is simply an acknowledgement, either informally via voluntary participation in support arrangements, or formally via submission of a self-assessment, of any agency’s participation in any of our support network arrangements.

More detailed and deliberate mapping that might, for example, result in the Authority attempting to plug any gaps in provision, has not taken place since the demise of our CYPP.

Blaenau Gwent

We have completed an audit of provision, including vol sector youth work provision, every year for last 5 years. For the past 3, this has been as part of our annual mapping process for the YEPF and then uploaded onto our online directory of support for young people and also added to our young people's website.
This year, welsh gov commissioned Cordis Bright to complete a map of voluntary sector provision and we have used that report to add/check/compare against our own.
The type of info we collect is name, purpose, age remit, cost if any, contact info. We do not currently ask for info like policies and procedures etc - we do not quality assure. We only do that when we work directly with any organisation or if they are part of the ISP. However, we do remove projects/organisations if any serious safeguarding issues are flagged up with us, and follow up appropriately.

Carmarthenshire

I am not aware of previous mapping. However, I will ask my youth work managers who may be able to assist.

Torfaen

Torfaen has a family Information Service that carries out mapping on services including Youth Support Services.  We also have a Youth Support Services Network that meets up to 4 times a year and is designed to provide organisations with the opportunity to showcase their services, improve referral routes and facilitate networking.

RCT

We are currently in discussions with DEWIs with regards to setting up a standalone platform that links directly to the main DEWIs website.

This will enable us to pull off service mapping reports use the data entered on the national database, with the ability to arrange them either geographically or themed (10 entitlements).

 In the interim we are developing a YSS Service Mapping document to complement the existing arrangements linked to the YSS plan and needs assessment.

 There are also a number of other service mapping documents that have been produced locally at specific areas including:

· Supporting Engagement, Employment and Training directory;

· Supporting Service children in Education directory, and;

· An exercise undertaken by Cordis Bright mapping voluntary providers supporting the delivery of the YEPF.

All these will contain information with regards to voluntary sector youth provision and be will used to inform the wider YSS mapping exercise and the standalone platform.

Ceredigion

Recently, Ceredigion Youth Service has contributed to a comprehensive mapping exercise of all clubs, activities and projects available in Ceredigion for children, young people and adults. The Family Information Service has led this initiative to improve services for Ceredigion Residents by providing them with easier access to what's going on in their community via their website, newsletters etc. This has been quite a challenging process. The Youth Engagement team have also undertaken similar mapping work in Ceredigion.

As a service we support numerous voluntary organisations via designated SLA's which provide them with access to financial support, training and advice/ guidance relating to youth work issues. Furthermore, our countywide activity programme utilises our universal approach and a wide variety of voluntary organisations have information and opportunities to engage and refer young people via various methods. We also promote as much community engagement as possible via community profiling, surveys (online & paper), self-assessments, focus groups and so forth to identify gaps in provision and avenues of support we can provide to community groups where appropriate.

We also hold regular ‘youth services’ multi-agency meetings’. Various services (voluntary and statutory), who work directly with young people attend this meeting. This is an opportunity for everyone to share ‘good practice’ and to work in collaboration. These meetings are usually held a term in advance in order for the services to share information about forthcoming events, to identify ways of working together, to avoid duplication and to work across services where possible.

Cardiff

Youth Services mapped through our Family Information Service – registered into Sprout and now Dewis. Annual process, augmented with information that the Service information officer gathers on organisations providing support services for young people. Fairly robust although as always could be improved.

Gwynedd

NFER did a mapping exercise in Gwynedd 2 ago.  Our EPC has also undertaken mapping work in Gwynedd. 

As a service we support the Urdd, Young Farmers, Scouts and Guides through SLA's which provide them with financial support, training and advice/ guidance relating to youth work issues. We also support smaller groups from time to time financially and will provide training and advice on youth work issues.

Newport

Sorry for the delay in replying, Newport during the last 2 years have carried out an annual mapping of voluntary sector organisations within the city as well as conducting a bi-annual questionnaire with young people in all schools around provision and their needs.

There are also multi-agency meetings that focus on particular target groups such as NEETs, which also include the voluntary sector.

Wrexham

The Info Shop holds the majority of information as it then informs the ‘TRAC’ section of the Young Wrexham website.  We have recently been working with the local CVC to update the database but unfortunately this has been difficult due to their lack of capacity.  We are linked in with DEWIS discussions. The other mapping we have done which is more extensive is as part of the Engagement and Progression Framework, but this obviously serves a different purpose.  We recently held workshops with the potential providers of YSS and this actually was useful in updating our knowledge about who is out there.  I think we are really missing a lot of information and we are due to recruit a Youth Development Officer and their first task is probably going to consist of carrying out a mapping exercise.  We are also intending to set up a YSS forum as the one previously hosted by the CVC has not met for a couple of years and we have noticed the impact of that.

Neath Port Talbot

In NPT we have a Youth Support Services Liaison Officer who maps provision (over 150 providers on this list), we use this information to email out any relevant information, employment opportunities, any available funding etc.  We also work with the Family Information Service on their website which maps wider provision, we are looking to develop this further. 

We also have multi agency meetings that mainly focus on target groups such as NEETs etc. these meetings include various voluntary sector organisations.