GFTU BGCM 2019 Minutes

paid worker or apprentice, education and training is significant in contributing to

the overall quality of youth work and in sustaining good practice, so to achieve

Labour’s vision we must improve pathways into professional youth work. Short

term funding, unrealistic delivery expectations and the competitive nature of the

youth sector funding has made it almost impossible for youth organisations to

carry out longitudinal studies that truly measure the impact of an intervention

on young people months or even years later in their lives and we recognise that

there is not a quick or clear solution to change the overarching culture of

evidence and evaluation within youth work. Funders, policy makers, evaluators,

sector leaders and youth work organisations need to work together to ensure

that evaluation is properly resourced to generate effective evidence and this

will require a sector wide effort.

However, a Labour Government will provide the strategic leadership that is

needed to move towards a stronger, more effective evidence of youth work that

focuses on the long term. Evaluation should seek to reduce the time burden on

youth organisations and youth work professionals and young people. While

evaluation is very important, time that youth work professionals spend on

paperwork is time they do not spend on other aspects of their work.

Finally, funding, the elephant in the room. Labour’s Shadow Chancellor, John

McDonnell, has made it clear that a statutory youth service will require a

sustainable funding model to reverse years of Tory cuts. The decimation of

youth services has not happened in isolation, but in the context of huge cuts to

local authorities. Labour’s funding package will, therefore, be part of our

overall response to local government funding. I am working closely with the

Shadow Treasury team in developing the final proposals and, as with our last

manifesto, we will be clear and transparent about where all the funding for our

additional spending commitments will come from. But we must remember that

austerity is a political choice and not an economic necessity. Our nation is the

fifth richest in the world and whilst axing millions from youth services and

services for young people, the Tories have handed out billions of pounds in

Corporation Tax giveaways. We can no longer sit back and allow the Tories to

fail our young people and I hope this gives you an idea of the kind of vision we

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