{"id":49835,"date":"2014-11-06T15:25:08","date_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=576a9926d9c0d012f2be89a15f8f2eb5"},"modified":"2014-11-06T15:25:08","modified_gmt":"2014-11-06T15:25:08","slug":"speech-rob-wilson-speech-to-creative-collisions-2014","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=49835","title":{"rendered":"Speech: Rob Wilson speech to Creative Collisions 2014"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

It\u2019s wonderful to be here with you in the Olympic Park.<\/p>\n

Last time I was here was in 2012 for Super Saturday, when Team GB brought home a clutch of medals. Usain Bolt was cementing his place as the best ever sprinter on earth. This place seemed like the centre of the world \u2013 and played host to so much hope, anticipation and celebration. So it\u2019s great to see so many young people here today, helping recapture that energy and excitement.<\/p>\n

I once ran 100 metres in under 11 seconds. So I hope that my speech today feels like a sprint rather than a marathon. <\/p>\n

Young people<\/h2>\n

I\u2019ve been Minister for Civil Society<\/a> for just over a month, but as a parent and an MP I see the fantastic things that young people and youth organisations do all the time. <\/p>\n

My own son was in the Cubs and played for local youth football teams and my daughter was in the Brownies. They loved the sense of adventure and the opportunity to be outdoors and I saw how their character and confidence grew. <\/p>\n

Every year I interact with local members of the UK Youth Parliament and Reading\u2019s Youth Cabinet. Young people may not be interested in party politics but on the issues that matter to them they\u2019re passionate and informed, which is why we\u2019ve worked on many local campaigns together.<\/p>\n

And recently I had the privilege of attending a reception marking the 15th anniversary of the Diana Awards. While I was there I met a fantastic young man from Cardiff called Kyle and presented him with an award. Kyle gets up at 6am every day so he can do a few hours\u2019 work at a local grocery shop before college starts. His parents recently separated, and Kyle is helping look after his young brother and sister. <\/p>\n

Neither of these things is particularly uncommon \u2013 lots of young people have to juggle work, home and education. But the remarkable thing about Kyle is that he did all these things and still found time to do 500 hours volunteering a year to help younger children \u2013 many with behavioural or learning difficulties \u2013 with their literacy and numeracy skills.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a young man who\u2019s had to grow up quickly \u2013 but still finds time to give something back. Kyle\u2019s example is another powerful vindication of young people today and for me this was a great introduction to youth policy. <\/p>\n

So as Minister for Civil Society, I\u2019m committed to bringing national and local government together, along with civil society and businesses, to give young people in this country the best possible opportunities to succeed.<\/p>\n

Youth sector<\/h2>\n

The UK can be a great place in which to grow up. We\u2019ve got free healthcare and excellent schools. We enjoy fantastic cultural and sporting opportunities \u2013 including superb facilities like the one we\u2019re in today. The UK has some of the best universities in the world. And more and more businesses are offering apprenticeships for young people who want to get ahead in the world of work. So it\u2019s crucial that we continue to help all young people take advantage of these opportunities, regardless of their background and circumstances. <\/p>\n

And I\u2019d like to thank everybody here today involved with supporting young people. It involves a lot of hard work and I know it can be extremely challenging at times but it really does matter. Because by training and supporting, encouraging and inspiring – or sometimes just by listening \u2013 you can change lives.<\/p>\n

So let me assure you that this government recognises the importance of your work, and the contribution you make to young people in this country. <\/p>\n

Government priorities<\/h2>\n

I know these have been tough times. The funding situation is tight. Local councils have had some difficult decisions to make. Sadly this has had a knock-on effect on the wider youth sector.<\/p>\n

But I want to work with you to ensure that young people continue to have the support they need. I have 3 priorities.<\/p>\n

The first is to ensure opportunities continue to exist outside school and college for young people to prepare for adult life, whether it\u2019s developing their skills for work, gaining confidence and the ability to bounce back when something goes wrong or simply learning the importance of helping others.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re lucky in the UK to have so many organisations dedicated to working with young people. It\u2019s an interesting fact that 11 out of the 12 people to walk on the moon belonged to the Scouts when they were younger.<\/p>\n

We want young people to aim for the skies \u2013 or even the stars \u2013 and these kinds of organisations can help them on their way. So I\u2019m really pleased that we\u2019ve been able to support uniformed youth organisations, with \u00a310 million raised through the Libor fines. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m also proud to support the #iwill campaign, led by Step Up To Serve<\/a>, which aims to double the number of young people taking part in social action by 2020. <\/p>\n

National Citizen Service<\/a> is one valuable part of this. In the summer I met young people taking part in NCS<\/abbr> in my constituency and learnt about the social action projects they were developing around issues like organ donation, body image, mental health and self-harming. In total more than 100,000 young people have now taken part in the programme and they\u2019ve given some 2 million hours of service to their communities. <\/p>\n

However, NCS<\/abbr> isn\u2019t the only part, and we need to do more to bring schools, local authorities, businesses and youth organisations together to provide opportunities for young people. <\/p>\n

Youth voice<\/h2>\n

My second priority is to ensure young people\u2019s voices are heard.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month we saw a record turnout, 865,000 votes cast by 11 to 18 year olds across the country in the annual Make Your Mark<\/a> Ballot, up by 81% compared to last year. <\/p>\n

The ballot gives young people a say on what the Youth Parliament discusses in its annual House of Commons session, which will take place in a few days\u2019 time. I\u2019m looking forward to meeting them and hearing them debate these issues at length. <\/p>\n

It\u2019s also important that we allow young people to play a role in shaping the services they use, both at local and national levels. Listening shouldn\u2019t be a gesture \u2013 it\u2019s a way of ensuring our policies and services meet their actual needs \u2013 as opposed to what adults sitting in Whitehall or town halls think they need.<\/p>\n

From a national perspective, I have asked my officials to explore ways government can get better at listening to young people when developing policy. I know there\u2019s some great work going on in the youth sector to understand what young people most value and I want government to learn from this.<\/p>\n

Transformation<\/h2>\n

My third priority is to help youth services adapt to become more resilient. Even though growth is returning, austerity, sadly, isn\u2019t going to disappear any time soon. At the same time future governments \u2013 whatever their political persuasion \u2013 will always be faced with new pressures and more demands.<\/p>\n

This means we can\u2019t just rely on more money for youth services \u2013 we need to find better ways of doing things. So I\u2019m pleased that one of the themes of this conference is \u2018innovation and impact\u2019. <\/p>\n

I\u2019m a small businessman by background. I believe the power of enterprise and innovation to find creative solutions to problems and develop better ways of doing things. Policies like payment-by-results and social investment are creating new opportunities for civil society.<\/p>\n

We need you to be involved because government can\u2019t do it alone. Civil society organisations are sometimes much closer to the people we want to help. They can be more responsive and can tailor services around the needs of communities and individuals many times better than government can.<\/p>\n

Frontline London<\/a> is a great example of the public, private sectors coming together with civil society to help change lives for the better. It was set up a year ago after an Evening Standard investigation into street gangs. The scheme is supporting 10 young Londoners to turn around their lives by becoming social entrepreneurs. The School for Social Entrepreneurs, a charity, is managing the project with \u00a350,000 of funding from the Cabinet Office. Lloyds Banking Group is providing a further \u00a3100,000 together with business mentoring and training. <\/p>\n

Whether setting up a martial arts gym or running workshops with local schools, these entrepreneurs are inspirational and \u2013 with a little help \u2013 they are, I hope, going to achieve great things.<\/p>\n

We know that some local authorities are already exploring new models for delivering youth services involving these kinds of partnerships. <\/p>\n

So we must make sure the lessons from these initiatives are shared because I want organisations working with young people to be able to benefit from \u2013 and contribute to \u2013 this transformation.<\/p>\n

Impact measurement<\/h2>\n

For this to happen, youth organisations need to able to show how they change the lives of the people they work with. It\u2019s not enough to rely on good intentions; nowadays all organisations need to be able to demonstrate the impact of their work. This isn\u2019t some onerous box-ticking exercise imposed from above. It\u2019s about providing the highest quality opportunities for young people. And helping youth organisations promote the impact of their work to commissioners and decision makers.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ve told us that good work is going on to improve evidence in different places across the sector, but also that much of it happens in an inconsistent way. <\/p>\n

So I\u2019m pleased that the Cabinet Office is supporting the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services<\/a>, Project Oracle<\/a> and the Social Research Unit<\/a> to launch the Centre for Youth Impact<\/a> today. It will be a central point for information and resources, and guidance and support to use them. <\/p>\n

This will help youth organisations demonstrate and increase the impact of their work and will provide commissioners with greater evidence to make more effective decisions. And it will leave the sector as a whole in a far better position to adapt to changes in funding and commissioning that are coming through.<\/p>\n

Conclusion<\/h2>\n

So, in conclusion:<\/p>\n

I want to ensure young people get the best possible support in the future.<\/p>\n

That means finding new and better ways of doing things to ensure that every penny we spend on youth services \u2013 and every minute that youth workers dedicate to helping young people \u2013 can have maximum impact. So where local authorities and youth organisations are exploring new ways of working I\u2019ll back you to the hilt.<\/p>\n

So please keep working with us, so we can understand what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not \u2013 not only between now and the general election, but to help inform the priorities for the next Parliament. <\/p>\n

Thank you \u2013 and I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Minister for Civil Society spoke at the Uniting Young People conference on how the government supports the youth sector.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49835"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=49835"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49835\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=49835"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=49835"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=49835"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}