To: The Richard Commission
From: Elise Stewart, Director, Canllaw Online
Date: 17thJuly 2003
Topic: Issues affecting young people in Wales
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Background
Canllaw Online is a not for profit limited company
established to support and develop information services
for young people in Wales. Canllaw Online uses youth
work methodologies in the implementation of its work
and ensures that opportunities for young people are
educative, empowering, participative, expressive and
underpinned by a commitment to equality of opportunity
for all.
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In all its work Canllaw Online offers information
on each of the following areas:
- Education
- Employment and Training
- Environment
- World, Europe, UK and Wales
- Family and Relationships
- Health
- Housing
- Law and Rights
- Money
- Sport and Leisure
Canllaw Online delivers an information entitlement
project on behalf of the Welsh Assembly Government to
young people of school leaving age in Wales. There are
approximately 35,000 young people in this cohort each
year.
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There are seven main elements to the Canllaw
Online "Entitlement" Project:
- A guidebook covering over 350 topics of relevance
to young people in Wales.
- A website offering daily news, weekly special reports
and a regularly update information databank of relevant
issues as well as further contacts and hyperlinks
to expert agencies.
- A discount/advantage card (part of the pan Europe
Euro<26 scheme) offering a range of commercial
and cultural advantages to young people in Wales and
36 other European countries.
- Telephone helpline services offering support and
advice through a personal support line and a legal
advice line.
- A network of quality assured INFO outlets across
Wales. There are currently 83 outlets across Wales
ranging from full shops through to points and mobile
services.
- A consultancy service to those in Wales wishing
to establish an information service for young people.
A range of training packages relevant to the delivery
of information services for young people.
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| In addition to this major initiative (the
first of its kind in Europe) Canllaw Online is also involved
in proposals looking at how new technologies can enhance
information services for young people. The two major projects
in this area are the "Credu" project being developed through
a partnership with Fujitsu and s8080 and "Enlightening"
through a partnership with Market Stream with the backing
of the European Space Agency. |
Invitation
On the invitation of the Richard Commission to give
evidence at its forthcoming evidence session in Cardiff,
Canllaw Online was keen to ensure it used information
it had collected through its regular consultation with
young people and information service providers. In addition
to this internal information Canllaw Online conducted
a series of semi structured telephone interviews with
face to face workers from a number of the information
outlets across Wales.
These centres were selected from the list of Canllaw
Online registered Info outlets. In sampling them Canllaw
Online was keen to ensure urban/rural, north/south,
Welsh speaking/non Welsh speaking dimensions were considered.
Eight interviews were held.
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| The interviews covered the following areas:
1) Government structures
2) Issues of particular relevance to young people including:
- Health
- Housing
- Law and Rights
- Money
- Transport
3) General or specific issues not noted above
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| Results
The results of these interviews along with some feedback
from Canllaw Online’s internal research are presented
here.
1) Government Structures
There seems to be a major lack of understanding of
the government structures in Wales and beyond. Some
of the face to face workers admitted that they themselves
were unsure of some of the responsibilities of the various
strata of government. Indeed staff at Canllaw Online
had realised previously their own confusion on the differences
between the National Assembly for Wales and the Welsh
Assembly Government.
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| There seems to be a lack of understanding
of the electoral system generally.
There was a suggestion that many young people did not
understand the differences between the levels of government
at a local level, national level, UK level and European
level. Within this there was confusion of the roles
of the various institutions and elected members. It
was stated that people did not understand the role of
a mayor, the leader of the council, the differences
between AMs, MPs and MEPs, committee structures, the
differences in the different types of elections and
the differences between paid officials and elected members.
There seemed to be a consensus amongst those questioned
that most young people did not have an interest in politics.
Those questioned speculated that this may be because
many of the young people they worked with came from
homes where the parents also had a low interest or negative
impression of politics. Some thought the lack of interest
was through pure ignorance and lack of knowledge and
understanding of the systems. Some felt that information
was not presented to young people in an accessible way.
One outlet explained that prior to one election they
had collected all the manifestos of the main parties
and presented for use by young people. It was seen that
none of the information was used and that its presentation
was overly complicated.
One interviewee said that the various elections were
held at different times and young people just did not
understand the relevance of each.
It was also stated that young people did not feel motivated
to vote as they felt their vote would not count or would
not make any difference.
Where young people did have an interest in the political
system it was where they had received some kind of support
or training either through school or through involvement
in youth fora. The representation of such fora was questioned.
There were few suggestions as to how young people may
become engaged and interested in politics but the main
reason for lack of interest was that it did not seem
relevant to young people.
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| 2) Issues
of particular relevance to young people including:
Health issues amongst young people seemed to fall into
the following areas:
Sexual health
Mental health
Drugs
Access to services
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| Sexual health was of high relevance to
young people with a number of the outlets questioned offering
or developing their own sexual health clinics. Three of
the outlets questioned were participants in an Assembly
funded initiative for the free distribution of condoms.
This initiative was proving highly successful as young
people were able to get condoms that were not available
through GP surgeries in some cases and where the Family
Planning services could not meet the demand. There was
one example in a rural area where young people were unable
to get to Family Planning services within the opening
times because of transport issues. This initiative had
helped highlight to a number of information workers the
high level of ignorance amongst young people on sexual
health issues including sexually transmitted diseases.
These information workers were then able to raise awareness
amongst these young people on such issues. In Cardiff
also there was a cross reference with transport and accessing
services and also a lack of capacity to meet demand for
such services.
Mental health was an issue raised by some information
workers. There was a clear identification of a lack
of quality counselling services available to young people.
It was felt that these services if in existence would
prevent some longer mental health problems arising.
Many of the information outlets were developing their
own services.
Drugs were an issue and there were a number of agencies
working in this area. Drug problems also cross referenced
with other factors such as mental health, employment
and housing issues. One respondent highlighted the problem
that some young people faced with continuous support
with drug problems; some young people had been allocated
to GPs for treatment but later had been issued notice
and removed from patient lists. It was not clear as
to the reasons whether they were financially influenced
or other factors.
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| Access to services was an issue that was
raised by some of those questioned. One clear example
was the lack of availability of NHS dentists. Young people
were able to access emergency treatment but were not able
to get regular treatment due to the lack of NHS services.
One of the centres where a face to face worker was
interviewed had a high level of homelessness and housing
queries. Housing issues included the types of housing
available to young people and the money available to
support young people with housing problems. One respondent
said that many landlords would not accept tenants on
housing benefit as there were often delays in receiving
payments as a result of bureaucratic hold ups. It was
identified by some of the respondents that they had
to act as intermediaries and advocates for young people
in finding what support was available. The information
workers repeatedly stated it was often a long and drawn
out process that was very complicated for young people
to go through alone. Examples were given of where various
public agencies had not fully informed young people
of their rights and entitlements and it had taken the
intervention of qualified workers to gain access to
such information.
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Law and rights were areas where young people needed
support. Information outlets offer that support in a
variety of ways. Virtually all those interviewed felt
that relationship between young people and police could
be made better. The information respected the professional
roles of the police but many suggested that for young
people the police did not always seem approachable –
this could be due to limited resources and commitment
to other duties. Some suggested that if the police had
more of a regular presence rather than just a presence
when there was trouble it might help relationships.
One respondent suggested the negative attitude towards
the police was one gained from home environments where
parents too had a similar attitude. Another respondent
suggested a higher presence in school sessions at an
early age so that young people could understand the
roles of the police. Some also suggested that it was
hard for young people to know individual officers as
the officers covered such large areas.
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Money was perceived as an issue that affected a wide
range of young people. The span of the issues raised
ranged from a clear understanding of eligibility for
Assembly Learning Grants through to problems within
the benefit system.
On the issue of funding for study the issue of student
loans was raised and the fear that some young people
had of such loans/debt and in some cases how this deterred
them from continuing their education.
Some respondents identified problems for young people
when trying to move off benefits into work. It was stated
that particularly for younger young people there was
little incentive to move into training schemes and that
some young people feared they would lose their benefit
if they took up a place and if it did not work out would
have difficulty in re- accessing a benefit. It was also
stated that limitations on volunteering hours whilst
on benefit hindered young people’s opportunities
to gain work experience. There was one area where a
"action teams for jobs" was in existence and was proving
particularly be helpful in supporting young people into
work.
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| There were several problems with young
people accessing benefits ranging from lack of awareness
of what is available and a perception that the system
and forms are over complicated through to perceived discrimination
inbuilt into the system. One respondent compared the differences
in benefit eligibility and levels in applicable amounts
for young people aged 16-17, 18-24 and 25+. This respondent
pointed to a single, able bodied age discrimination. For
those 16-17 to be eligible for benefit they have to be
estranged from their parents thus introducing a hurdle
to the process. For those 18-24 they have an entitlement
to a lower level of benefit than those 25+ despite their
necessary outgoings being of the same level.
The difficulty in accessing crisis loans and budgeting
loans (eg if a young person had to buy an essential
item that they could not afford like a pair of shoes)
was highlighted and the fact that such money had to
be repaid from a benefit which was already deemed the
minimum necessary to live on.
Another respondent pointed to a growing number of young
people who had difficulties in accessing benefits following
a breakdown in a relationship and where their new circumstances
made them eligible for benefits.
Some of the outlets pointed to the lack of budgeting
awareness by some young people who had easy access to
credit facilities without the means to pay for them.
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Transport issues for young people is a topic that Canllaw
Online has been investigating for some time. Along with
other youth organisations in Wales Canllaw Online has
identified issues with transport infrastructure, accessibility
and availability of services, health and safety issues
regarding transport, cost of transport and negative
perceptions of transport services by young people.
The interviews with face to face workers within
the information outlets confirmed these as issues and
there were various examples cited of limited public
services, poor quality services and poor co-ordination
amongst travel providers. In city areas transport services
were considered good. There was one example given of
reduced travel fares given during the summer to young
people in one area; this was welcomed and helped young
people to be more mobile.
There was recognition that transport issues were particularly
acute in rural areas, but also in urban and valley areas
there were problems. Also transport problems impacted
on all areas of young people’s lives from education,
employment and training through to leisure and social
activities.
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| 3) General
or specific issues not noted above
General issues that were raised through the interviews
revolved around the quality and accessibility of some
public services. It was felt that they were not always
young person friendly and did not present their information
in ways that were accessible to all young people. Many
of the information workers questioned saw themselves
as crucial intermediaries in the navigation of the relevant
public service systems. One respondent commented on
the fact that often there were limited numbers of young
people working in these agencies which made it even
harder for some of the service users to respond to them.
One specific issue that was raised by one respondent
related to asylum seekers. The respondent said that
due to their circumstances some asylum seekers although
well qualified and able to work were unable to work
and were forced to remain inactive often in poor quality
bed and breakfast provision. This then negatively impacted
on their mental health. The interviewee said that their
centre received many enquiries from asylum seekers and
pointed to the fact that often the centre was the only
support available to them.
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Summary
This report reflects some of the issues affecting young
people in Wales as perceived by information workers
across Wales through their daily interaction with young
people. This report does not intend to be a scientific
piece of research, but aims to offer a broader picture
on some of these issues by encompassing some of the
views of young people and information workers in Wales.
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