Monday 16 March 2009
The Look, Listen and Change Consortium (LLCC)
- comprising the British Youth Council, the Council for Disabled
Children, KIDS, the National Centre for Excellence in Residential
Child Care and NCB - is delighted to have been chosen to deliver
the national Young Inspectors* programme. The programme will
support young people in becoming local service inspectors and
achieving relevant change in services that affect their lives.
Funded by the Department for Children, Schools and Families
(DCSF), Young Inspectors aims to increase opportunities for
marginalised and disadvantaged young people to engage with their
peers to influence local policies and services across a wide range
of issues from transport to health. Building on existing
experience in some local areas, the programme offers an exciting
way for young people to engage with and influence Children's
Trusts, Commissioners and other providers such as schools and GP
practices.
The two year programme will be rolled out across 36 local
Children's Trust areas throughout the country and will provide
teams of up to 30 young people aged between 13 and 19 with
accredited training. There will also be local support workers
assisting the teams in identifying and delivering their role.
Barbara Hearn, Deputy Chief Executive at NCB said: "This
programme will enable young people to have a real impact on the
operation of local services in their areas, and enhance their
experience of local citizenship whilst building their skills and
confidence. We want to create a situation whereby young people see
a two-way flow of information, between themselves and their local
service providers, whilst seeing real change as a result of their
actions."
The Rt HON Beverley Hughes MP, Minister for Children and Young
People, added: "The Young Inspectors programme helps empower young
people to have a say over the quality of their local youth
services, ensuring they respond to what young people actually want
and need. I am pleased to announce that the Look, Listen and Change
Consortium have been awarded the contract to deliver the programme.
They have shown a real understanding of what we're trying to
achieve. As a consortium of organisations that work with, and on
behalf of, young people LLCC are in a good position to help young
people inspect local activities and youth services."
Emily Beardsmore, young Chair of the British Youth Council,
said: "This is a really exciting opportunity for young people to
have a say in their local communities and feed these up to a
national level so we can provide a platform for young people's
views on services nationally. It is even more exciting that
this programme will gain the views of young people who don't often
engage with decision-makers."
ENDS
* Over the next few weeks, young people will be putting ideas
forward for the programme name. The Minister will then make the
final choice from a shortlist of the top five names entered.
Notes to Editors
BYC
The British Youth Council (BYC) is led by young people, for young
people aged 26 and under across the UK. We connect with our
community of member organisations and network of Local Youth
Councils to empower all young people, wherever they're from, to
have a say and be heard. Our take on training and volunteering and
our powerful campaigns, both local and global, inspire young people
to have a positive impact and make their voices count. Find
out more about BYC at http://www.byc.org.uk./
CDC
The Council for Disabled Children (CDC) is the voice of the
disabled children's sector. It provides a national forum for the
discussion and development of policy and practice issues related to
services and support for disabled children and young people and
those with special educational needs. CDC is based at NCB. For
further information visit www.ncb.org.uk/cdc
KIDS
KIDS is working towards a vision in which all disabled children
and young people realise their aspirations, and their right to an
inclusive community which supports them and their families. KIDS
provides a wide range of services in seven English regions, and
promotes inclusive play and leisure through its Playwork Inclusion
Project (PIP) run by KIDS National Development Department
(NDD). KIDS NDD provides inclusive play training,
publications, briefings and other resources. To find out more
about the work of KIDS visit http://www.kids.org.uk/
NCERCC
The National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care,
based at NCB, aims to improve standards in residential care. The
Centre is a mixture of physical and virtual resources, with staff
based at NCB, a network of residential care managers and
practitioners across England, and training and other materials
online.
NCB
NCB's mission is to advance the well-being of all children and
young people across every aspect of their lives. As a
membership and infrastructure support agency for the children's
sector in England and Northern Ireland, NCB provides essential
information on policy, research and best practice for our members
and the members of our wide range of partnership bodies which
operate under our charitable status and are based in our London
headquarters. For further information visit http://www.ncb.org.uk/
For further information on this release contact Sarah Thorne in
the NCB Media Office on 020 7843 6359 or e-mail media@ncb.org.uk