Fact Sheets
Creating an Entitlement to Positive Activities
In the Children’s Plan consultation young people told us
they wanted more things to do and places to go in their
community – and to have a say in what activities should be provided. Parents also said they want more positive activities
for young people to help keep them off the streets.
The Children's Plan Commitment
We will develop an entitlement for all young people to participate in positive activities which develop their talents including piloting a new offer to take part in cultural activities in and out of school.
Some children said to us in the Time to Talk video diaries that they are not given enough opportunities to get involved in the things they might enjoy, like sport and music, and children feel that they miss out if they or their families cannot afford these activities. All young people should have a full range of experiences throughout the teenage years. We believe that going further in defining an entitlement will give young people higher and clearer expectations. We will consult young people on what range of experiences could be part of this entitlement.
Youth Matters and Aiming High have introduced new funding, legislation and reforms to improve both the volume of positive activities available to young people and their access to those activities. In addition to this funding the Children’s Plan announced a further £160m of investment to support the delivery of places to go for young people.
Context
Young people need a clearer sense of entitlement. The Education and Inspections Act 2006 placed a new duty on local authorities to secure young people’s access to positive activities, but this only creates an entitlement to a range of opportunities, not an entitlement to specific experiences.
Fears that such an entitlement may prove impossible to meet, in terms of ensuring young people’s access to the level and breadth of provision framed by the entitlement, may be mitigated by the experience of the 10 point ‘London Student Pledge’, which sets a precedent for such a specific entitlement. Experience of delivering this suggests that worries over meeting such an entitlement could be mitigated by framing the new entitlement around ‘experiences’ within broader themes of ‘culture’, ‘influencing services’, ‘informal learning’, ‘leisure’, and ‘sport’, which young people should have by the time they reach 19.
Such an entitlement sends a clear and positive message to young people, to parents and to the youth sector, that our ambition is to create a concrete and measurable offer based around real ‘experiences’ – not just ‘opportunities’.
The Potential Entitlement
By 2018, all young people will, by the age of 19, have:
- Taken part in sports outside the school curriculum
- Taken part in a cultural activity outside the school curriculum
- Volunteered, taken part in a community action, or become a mentor
- Been on a residential trip, outdoor learning or adventure activity
- Taken part in an event to celebrate their achievements
- Had someone to talk to and ask their advice when they needed it
… and in doing so they will have
- Mixed with young people from different backgrounds, cultures and faiths; and other members of their community
- Expressed their views on the ‘local offer’ of positive activities, and seen that they were taken into account
- Contributed to making a decision about what’s available to young people in their community and
- Seen the local offer improve since they were thirteen.
Questions
The Department is interested to hear your views on the questions below. If you would like to feed in your comments to this continuing dialogue, please email your responses, stating which fact sheet and which question you are answering, to timetotalk.feedback@dcsf.gsi.gov.uk.
- Is the positive activities entitlement a good idea and what benefit would it bring to young people?
- What should be included in it?
- How would it work and who should be involved in delivering it?
- How can it best be communicated to parents and young people, particularly hard to reach groups?
- What facilities would you like to see in your area?
