Young people from 15 youth organisations, including vInspired, have joined forces to write to the Education Secretary expressing their concern about his comments that youth policy is not a priority for central government. Together the organisations represent over eight million young people across the country. In a survey conducted to support the letter 92 per cent of the young people polled feel that the government does not do enough to show they care about young people and their futur...

vInspired have joined over 20 youth organisations to challenge Michael Gove’s recent comments that youth policy is priority for local government and not central government. Below is an open letter to the Secretary of State with which our very own CEO is involved. Leaders of youth organisations can sign up to support the letter here. Dear Secretary of State As the leaders of a number of key youth charities in England we are writing to ask for urgent clarification of the re...

I recently read with interest the Labour Party’s policy review for young people and youth services A key proposal that grabbed my attention was that of co-location of youth services (where more than one service would share the same public space or building), particularly in schools. The idea of co-location in schools could give opportunities for organisations such as vInspired, which is youth-led, to better provide services and facilitate activities -  and ultimatel...

Last week saw the Government publish another set of NEET figures nudging the one million mark. In the same week, ‘Lost in Transition’, a report by the Work Foundation, argued that a lack of soft skills such as communication, team work and customer service, are preventing young people from securing work in the growing service sector. Rather than shrugging our shoulders at what seems like a hopeless situation, now is the time to be looking for more creative solutions to ...

We’re always hearing about ‘anti-social behaviour’ but we don’t hear much about its antithesis - pro-social behaviour. It sounds like something from ‘Brave New World’ but just means volunteering, involvement in decision making or local and community organisations. Commissioned by the last Government, the Department for Education (DfE) has just published research into pro-social behaviour of 16-19 year olds. It turns out that, contrary to media r...

As we reach the end of the year the Government is attempting to bring some festive cheer to young people. And let’s face it, they need it. It’s been a tough year and it doesn’t look like it’s going to get much better anytime soon. In the last few weeks the Government has announced the Youth Contract, a participation strategy and now it’s Positive for Youth statement. After months of talking to the youth sector, local authorities, businesses and young p...

Back in July the Department for Education published 20 (yes 20) different Positive for Youth discussion papers to shape the Government’s youth policy. Faced with the prospect of responding to 20 papers, vInspired jumped at the chance of a bit of collaborative working with a group convened by NCVYS to coordinate a full response to ‘Positive for Youth’ discussion papers. vinspired took the lead on ‘Young People’s Role in Society’ with input from Commun...