We believe that the consequences of having a limited
professional Youth Service are obvious:
• more young people ‘criminalised’ as they are
left to use the streets, as the Youth Projects are close
• vulnerable children abandoned by those with whom they can
develop relationships, and put at greater risk
• increasing anti social behaviour and rising levels of youth
crime
• the attraction of gangs, guns and knives to some of our
youth, as positive youth work ceases
• opportunities for racists and fascists to exploit feelings
of despair
• a generation of young people abandoned
Your decision to restructure the Youth Service was made without
consideration of the consequences. The option on the table for
consultation leaves large sections of the community of Kent with
little or no provision and opens the door to untrained, unqualified
and inexperienced Voluntary sector groups or even worse the
opportunity for Private sector companies to exploit socially
deprived communities for profit.
We the undersigned demand that you urgently review the closure
decisions, and properly consult all those affected by your
decision. We ask the Council to freeze the restructure and hold a
Full Council meeting to devise strategies to mitigate the effects
of the cuts and enable Local communities, who are the taxpayers who
fund these services, to ‘restructure’ their
service.
We urge you to adopt a strategy of real dialogue around these cuts
so that we can all ensure the continuation of a professional, well
resourced Youth Service in Kent.
On reaching 10000 signatures a full council debate will be held. If the petition achieves between 2500 and 9999 signatures it will be referred to the appropriate Cabinet Committee.
This ePetition ran from 25/07/2011 to 25/10/2011 and has now finished.
318 people signed this ePetition.
I have noted your comments in regard to the proposals for a transformation in the way services for young people are delivered across the county.
In light of the extreme financial pressures facing public services in general, Kent County Council is having to make very difficult decisions about all aspects of his work as it seeks to make very significant savings over the next few years. As the Cabinet Member with responsibility for Youth Services in the county, I have been given specific financial saving targets that I must achieve; however, I would also wish to say that I have been a strong supporter of youth work in Kent throughout my time in the County Council and will continue to fight for high quality provision into the future.
A period of 90 day consultation with young people, staff, partners and stakeholders has recently closed, and officers are now preparing a detailed report that I will use as the basis of making a decision. I have also been meeting with elected members from the County Council as well as District and Borough Councils to hear their views; clearly, the views of young people are also very important to me, and I have taken the opportunity to meet face to face with young people from across the county over recent weeks.
As you will be aware, the proposal for consultation was to deliver a core service level in each district of KCC staff delivering a Youth Hub, Street-based Youth Work and school- based Community Youth Tutor(s). Under the proposals, this ‘core offer’ would be supplemented by the commissioning of youth work services at a local level to continue to ensure the delivery of youth work opportunities and thus in its entirety ensuring the delivery of a first class Youth Service for the young people of Kent whilst working closely with local communities to make decisions on what youth provision would best serve them.
The intention of the proposals has always been to look for new opportunities for communities to have a greater role in shaping and even running their own services.
We recognise that local communities are, rightly, very proud of their local youth service provision which is why we do not intend to make any rushed decision. My officers will work alongside the Locality Boards over the next few months to ensure that we commission exactly the right kind of services across the county.
Yours sincerely
Michael Hill, OBE
Cabinet Member for Customer and Communities