More detail on proposals for young people
Gordon Brown on putting the Youth Matters proposals into effect:
Chancellor Gordon Brown wants to give 13-19 year-olds up to £25 a month to keep them “off the streets”, as part of a crackdown on anti-social behaviour.
But youngsters who repeatedly misbehave will have their cards withdrawn.
“The hardcore will not get it. This is for the decent, well-behaved young people,” the chancellor told the BBC.
As I said before it was published:
less good, a system of credits, awarded for school performance and volunteering, which can be topped up by parents, and which young people can use to “pay” for activities. I am sceptical, because it will be less likely to benefit disadvantaged young people, who aren’t as likely to do well at school or volunteer, but who need the support of positive activities even more than middle-class kids. [...]
Our learning from the way childcare has been rolled out is that private providers only operate in better-off areas, despite government encouragement, and that unless childcare in poor areas is heavily subsidised, it’s not viable for private providers. I’d hate to see a situation where choice for young people in North Oxford got better whilst young people on Rose Hill and Wood Farm missed out because there was no money to be made.
Whilst I get that you don’t reward bad behaviour from young people, I don’t see how excluding young people who misbehave from youth facilities is likely to improve their behaviour…
I think it’s been reported in a misleading way - from my understanding it’s not a reward scheme for good behaviour, it’s a youth discount card that can be topped up with credit, either by parents or in the case of disadvantaged young people, by the government. I would be in favour of any scheme that encourages a positive view of young people but of course the media have chosen to focus on bad behaviour. It’s also combined with a new pot of money - around £500,000 in each local authority, more for large ones - which young people have control of to spend on facilities and activities. That sounds empowering and long overdue.
Is there a meaningful difference between the two, except in terms of spin, given that the vast majority of young people are well-behaved?
But the way it’s been reported is that it’s a prize for good behaviour, when in reality everyone’s going to get one. The media have jumped on one line in a 10-page document which says funding will be withdrawn from young people who exhibit consistently anti-social behaviour (and reinstated at the discretion of their social worker) All of a sudden it’s a reward card which is just incorrect. It’s an experiment to see if young people respond to cash to engage in constructive activity - nothing to do with whether they’re “good” or “bad” and rightly so.
I’m a bit worried about “midnight football”. Can this be done without disturbing the neighbours?
I presume that Horse Guards Parade is not going to be used for it and that Brown’s Dunfermline pad doesn’t back on to a park or sports’ centre.