YOUTH SERVICE NEEDS URGENT ACTION

11.14.27am UTC (GMT +0000) Mon 8th Aug 2005

The recently published Ofsted report on Bromley Council's Youth Service has highlighted the many ways in which Bromley Council's Youth Service is letting down Bromley's children, their parents and the wider community.

Liberal Democrat Councillor Martin Curry, who was appointed a member of Bromley Council's Children and Young Person's Policy, Development and Scrutiny Committee in May this year says " I was horrified by the Inspector's comments that "Procedures for ensuring the safeguarding of children are unsatisfactory and the local authority's monitoring of these ...is not sufficient".

"On all four measures that the Youth Service was assessed on, it has received the lowest possible rating, Inadequate, and it is not providing value for money." he continues.

"There are some good points made about the service" he states, "especially the strong commitment to young people shown by Youth workers, who the report notes are generally fully qualified or in training, and the way in which more structured activities especially those targeted at particular groups, such as young mothers,travellers and after school clubs have met their objectives, but too many activities are unstructured and unchallenging."

Cllr. Curry concludes " Basic management information, such as the number of children being served, has not been made available to the Inspector, despite the service having known of the Inspection for some time. It is quite clear that the management of the service, both strategic and operational, needs to be drastically improved. The task for Councillors, of all parties, is to provide the scrutiny and leadership of the Youth Service that Bromley deserves, and I, and my fellow Liberal Democrat Councillors will do so."