‘KING’ INQUIRY INTO LIFE FOR YOUNG PEOPLE RECOMMENDS RADICAL ACTION TO TRANSFORM THE LIVES OF TROUBLED TEENAGERS

New statistics show that as schools prepare to break up for the holidays, over 1 million teenagers could be wandering the streets because there is nowhere else to go.

The alarming statistics were revealed on 11 July 2007 in the ‘Oona King’ inquiry report. The year long inquiry consulted 16,000 UK teenagers and recommends radical action to transform their lives, including a youth hub in every community to tackle anti social behaviour and crime.

Far reaching recommendations of a year-long Make Space Youth Review chaired by Campaigner and Broadcaster Oona King and launched today by youth icon Lily Allen. The report will also be presented to Prime Minister Gordon Brown MP.

The Review, undertaken by children’s charity 4Children and supported by Nestlé, comes at a time of unprecedented debate about the welfare of young people in the UK – with statistics demonstrating worrying trends on all aspects of teenagers lives from risky behaviour to youth-on-youth violence and anti-social behaviour. The Review has spent 12 months touring each region of the country and consulting over 16,000 teenagers of all ages to find out what life is truly like for young people today in the UK and how they believe that improvements can be made.

Launching the report today, youth icon Lily Allen said: “I want to see a new start for teenagers in communities where they have nothing to do, nowhere to go and nowhere to call their own. The Youth Review has consulted 16,000 teenagers across the country and their message was clear: they said to give young people more of a stake in communities and give us more opportunities. The number of teenagers who go off the rails is a problem for us all and instead of helping them only after they’re in crisis we need to stop them getting into trouble in the first place.”

The inquiry discovered:

• Young people were fearful for their own safety, with 60% of young people in deprived areas becoming victims of crime in their community.
• 80% of young people said they had nowhere to go and nothing to do outside school and hung around on the streets bored as a result.
• 70% of teenagers said that they believed that young people got involved in anti-social behavior because they were bored.
• More than 70% of 11–16 year olds said that they have witnessed anti-social behaviour over the last year, whilst 12% of young people belong to a gang.
• 62% said that they did not know where to go to get help or information if they needed it.
• Youth crime costs up to £13 billion per year compared to £1.6 billion spent by government on positive prevention and youth programmes. It costs £35,000 to put a young person in a detention centre for a year.

The Review is calling for an urgent transformation of support for teenagers, recommending a programme of Government investment and action to create a ’Sure Start’ approach for older children. This would provide positive opportunities for all young people with early support and intervention for troubled teenagers to prevent difficulties escalating.

Key Recommendations:

• A Youth Centre in every community providing dedicated spaces for young people to meet, as well as access to music, creative arts, sports, classes and specialist intervention and support for teenagers in difficulty. Inspirational and gifted young people’s workers would lead these centres and coordinate activity for young people in the area.
• Support for parents of teenagers including right to request flexible work and intensive involvement and support for parents of troubled teenagers.
• Mobile Intervention Teams to work in areas of high deprivation and unrest – offering teenagers specialist and positive support.
• Action on bullying and a new Victim Support scheme for young people who have been the victims of crime.
• Young Mayors elected in every area to give teenagers representation and a say in their community.
• Free public transport and leisure for all young people under 18 to ensure access for all.

Oona King, Chair of the Review said: “Growing up can be tough and we are simply not doing enough to help the next generation to flourish. On average we spend 17p for each young person per day on youth services and this has to change. Young people need to be a part of our communities and not doing this costs us billions dealing with the consequences of anti-social behaviour, crime and violence and even more in the emotional consequences of a dispossessed generation of teenagers.”

Anne Longfield OBE, Chief Executive of 4Children, said: ”The Youth Review has discovered an extraordinary consensus with over 16,000 teenagers telling us that many of them feel neglected, bored and without opportunity outside school. We need to create a new generation of services for older children with high quality opportunities around youth centres in every neighborhood, linked into specialist help for those who need it – a Sure Start approach for older children. The teenage years are a crucial stage of development when strong and sometimes negative pathways into adulthood and life chances are formed and in many cases set. The Make Space Youth Review provides the blueprint for ensuring all young people get the chance they deserve.”

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To download the Full Report, click here.

To download the Summary Report, click here.

For more information about Make Space, visit www.makespace.org.uk

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