Youth provision and expenditure in the 2023/24 financial year
Case reference FOI2024/01972
Received 22 November 2024
Published 20 December 2024
Request
1) What are the counts for the below items during the 2023/24 financial year?
• Overall number of council-ran youth centres in local authority
• Overall number of youth centres in local authority run by other organisations
• Overall number of directly employed youth workers and youth support workers (Head count)
• Overall number of directly employed youth workers and youth support workers (FTE)
2) As part of the Section 251 Outturn submitted to Department for Education for the 2023/24 financial year, which budget line did your local authority include expenditure on Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme? (e.g., 2.4.1 (Other specific grants); 3.5.2 Targeted services for young people)
3) How much did your local authority spend on the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme in the 2023/24 financial year?
4) Did your local authority receive any of the Youth Investment Fund from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in the 2023/24 financial year?
a. Yes / No
If yes,
b. How much money was received?
c. What project(s) was YIF used for in your local authority?
d. Was this a new-build or refurbishment/renovation of existing space?
e. What was the split of funding between capital (e.g., building, renovations) and revenue (service delivery)?
f. Was this funding included as part of your Section 251 Outturn statement to DfE? If so, which budget line was this attributed to, and in which financial year?
5) In the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Statutory guidance for local authorities on services to improve young people’s wellbeing (published 27 September 2023), it states that “Local authorities must determine what activities and associated facilities should be available to young people in their area”, and “should start by establishing what the needs of the young people in their area are, both in terms of activities and facilities, through a needs assessment.”
Has your local authority conducted a needs based assessment in the last three years?
a. Yes / No
If Yes,
b. When was this conducted?
c. How was this achieved? (E.g., analysing available data, taking views from providers, bench-marking approaches, regular audits of provision)
If No,
d. Does your local authority plan to conduct a needs based assessment on youth provision within the next four years? If so, when will this be?
6) Under Section 507B of the Education Act 1996, “local authorities must consult, and take into account the views of young people in their area on: current provision; the need for additional activities and facilities; access to those activities and facilities”
Has your local authority consulted young people on youth provision in the last four years?
a. Yes / No
If Yes,
b. When was this conducted?
c. How was this achieved? (E.g., surveys, visits to youth groups, feedback sessions in schools, youth councils, youth-led peer reviews)
If No,
d. Does your local authority plan to consult with young people on youth provision within the next four years? If so, when will this be?
Response
1) What are the counts for the below items during the 2023/24 financial year?
• Overall number of council-ran youth centres in local authority
Answer: There are no Council-run youth centres; these were closed in 2012.
• Overall number of youth centres in local authority run by other organisations
Answer: This information is not held. Herefordshire Council do not hold a definitive list of all community youth centres run by other organisations.
• Overall number of directly employed youth workers and youth support workers (Head count)
Answer: 0
• Overall number of directly employed youth workers and youth support workers (FTE)
Answer: 0
2) As part of the Section 251 Outturn submitted to Department for Education for the 2023/24 financial year, which budget line did your local authority include expenditure on Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme? (e.g., 2.4.1 (Other specific grants); 3.5.2 Targeted services for young people)
Answer: Although the HAF programme is to support children during the holiday period, it is not included in the s.251 return.
3) How much did your local authority spend on the Holiday Activities and Food (HAF) programme in the 2023/24 financial year?
Answer: £388,081.47
4) Did your local authority receive any of the Youth Investment Fund from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport in the 2023/24 financial year?
a. Yes / No
Answer: No
If yes,
b. How much money was received?
c. What project(s) was YIF used for in your local authority?
d. Was this a new-build or refurbishment/renovation of existing space?
e. What was the split of funding between capital (e.g., building, renovations) and revenue (service delivery)?
f. Was this funding included as part of your Section 251 Outturn statement to DfE? If so, which budget line was this attributed to, and in which financial year?
Answer: N/A
5) In the Department for Culture, Media and Sport’s Statutory guidance for local authorities on services to improve young people’s wellbeing (published 27 September 2023), it states that “Local authorities must determine what activities and associated facilities should be available to young people in their area”, and “should start by establishing what the needs of the young people in their area are, both in terms of activities and facilities, through a needs assessment.”
Has your local authority conducted a needs based assessment in the last three years?
a. Yes / No
Answer: Yes
If Yes,
b. When was this conducted?
Answer: 2021, 2022 and 2024.
c. How was this achieved? (E.g., analysing available data, taking views from providers, bench-marking approaches, regular audits of provision)
Answer: The Service Area have advised the Herefordshire Children and Young People’s Quality of Life survey, conducted in 2021 and repeated this (2024) summer asked some relevant questions which would provide insights into need:
|
Which of these have you been to in your free time outside of school in the last 4 weeks? · Parks or open spaces · Swimming · Cinema/theatres · Museums/art galleries · Libraries (not school library) · Sports club or class (not school lessons or just watching) · Youth centre or club (including scouts, guides etc.) · Religious or faith or community group · Art, craft, dance, drama, film making group · Music group or lessons |
|
|
Are there any other activities that you would like to have available near where you live? |
|
|
Other than COVID-19, is there anything that stops you taking part in out of school activities like clubs? |
|
|
Nothing stops me |
|
|
Parents/carers don't want me to go |
|
|
I live too far away |
|
|
It is too expensive to get there or to take part |
|
|
Nothing I want to do |
|
|
None of my friends go |
|
|
I don't like group activities |
|
|
I'm too busy doing other things |
|
|
Other (please tick and describe in the box below) |
|
The survey was run through schools, with voluntary participation. In each iteration approx. 5,000 children and young people at Herefordshire schools participated.
The 2021 reports are published on the Herefordshire Council and can be found via the following link: Children and Young People's Quality of Life Survey - Understanding Herefordshire
The 2024 reports will be published in the same place in due course.
Further engagement with families was undertaken as part of the Prevention and Early Help in Communities Project 2022:
· During February and March 2022 community events, focus groups and one to ones were conducted in the community. Alongside this a family survey was live during March asking families similar questions about what it’s like to live in Herefordshire as a family.
· Working with community partners who already reach out and support children, young people and families enabled their views to be gathered in an already familiar space.
· 18 community events including stay and play (under 5s), circus skills, children and family activities, children’s active play sessions, children’s creative activities, pop up cinema, family lunch club, Glo party session, Ledbury Arts class, Tiddlers, Toddlers and Story Tellers, Town centre markets, The big family eat, pancake race and party and a family fun session.
· 12 focus groups were held with children that go missing, those that attend children centres, young people attending Close House, those accessing the Early Help Hub, Gen Z, Hereford Adopters, South Wye Boxing Club, Homestart, Gypsy and Romany Travellers, those attending parenting courses, West Mercia Policing teams in Ross-on-Wye and South Wye/Rotherwas and parent carers from Parent Carer Voice Herefordshire.
· These also encompassed one to one surveys with young people.
· 1,054 responses were received to the online family survey.
If No,
d. Does your local authority plan to conduct a needs based assessment on youth provision within the next four years? If so, when will this be?
Answer: N/A
6) Under Section 507B of the Education Act 1996, “local authorities must consult, and take into account the views of young people in their area on: current provision; the need for additional activities and facilities; access to those activities and facilities” Has your local authority consulted young people on youth provision in the last four years?
a. Yes / No
Answer: Yes
If Yes,
b. When was this conducted?
Answer: 2022
c. How was this achieved? (E.g., surveys, visits to youth groups, feedback sessions in schools, youth councils, youth-led peer reviews)
Answer: The Service Area have advised whilst we haven’t conducted any specific consultation on youth provision, we did carry out the ‘Let’s Talk’ survey with children and families, which focused on broader issues affecting them. While some feedback highlighted a lack of youth provision, this wasn’t the primary focus of the survey.
If No,
d. Does your local authority plan to consult with young people on youth provision within the next four years? If so, when will this be?
Answer: N/A
Documents
This is Herefordshire Council's response to a freedom of information (FOI) or environmental information regulations (EIR) request.
You can browse our other responses or make a new FOI request.