Warwickshire youth workers come out on top
Youth workers in Warwickshire take time to listen to young people, take them seriously and are very caring, according to the county’s youth.
These are some of the compliments young people made about staff at Warwickshire County Council’s Youth and Community Service in the service’s annual ‘You Tell Us’ survey.
Almost 700 young people aged 13-19 in the county completed the questionnaire, sharing their views about how the service meets their needs and what else they want to see on offer to them.
The survey also revealed that young people are developing longer lasting relationships with the service, compared with figures from 2007 results show a 9% increase in members using facilities for more than twelve months and a 1% increase in those involved for more than eighteen months.
This is the fourth year the service has offered the survey, which returned some very positive results. Overall, 97 per cent of respondents rated the service as good or excellent which is an increase of 6 per cent on last year’s results.
The service will use the survey to make improvements to facilities and access to activities around the county. Feedback this year has led to development of a four-point pledge for change which has been approved by VOX, the county’s youth forum.
The pledge features the promises; to consult with young people to offer services according to preferred opening times at centres; to provide a minimum two weeks summer holiday activity scheme at each delivery point; to improve access to ICT facilities; to continue improving facilities through consultation with young people.
Cabinet member Izzi Seccombe, Portfolio Holder for Children, Young People and Families said: “The ‘You Tell Us’ survey offers some extremely positive feedback about how young people engage with the youth and community service.
“The survey shows that ‘having fun’ and ‘being taken seriously’ are the most important factors to young people when using youth services, so it is only right that they should have a say in how provision is shaped and developed to meet their needs.”
The survey was available online throughout October 2008 with arrangements made for paper copies made available from detached and rural services. The young people were encouraged to offer their views by youth workers but completion was anonymous. In addition to shaping the pledge, survey results and recommendations will also be considered when developing local plans.
The full survey report is available online at http://www.warwickshire.gov.uk/youthandcommunity