Speaking Out project background

Speaking Out is a joint project between NCVYS and Children England (formerly the National Council of Voluntary Child Care Organisations) that sets out to build a voice for the children and young people’s voluntary and community sector across Government as part of a strategic partnership funded by the Office of the Third Sector within the Cabinet Office.

The project aims to develop closer links between a range of Government departments and the voluntary and community sector in delivering cross departmental plans such as Every Child Matters, focusing on the direct implementation of initiatives which affect children and young people.

The key departments for the project are the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, the Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, the HM Treasury, the Cabinet Office, and Communities and Local Government.

The key policy priorities for 2009 to 2011,  are youth employment, education and training; community cohesion, empowerment and citizenship; health; youth justice; housing and homelessness; and financial capability.

Our aims are:

• To work collaboratively with Government to ensure the voice of members is heard in policy development and implementation;

• To encourage best practice and avoid duplication;

• To influence national policy through particular experience or expertise, either directly or through the experience of members;

• To act as advocates and provide a credible voice for the Children, Young People & Families Voluntary and Community Sector.

The Speaking Out project seeks to take on policy initiatives that lead to better outcomes for children, young people and families, ensuring that the policy making process engages the sector effectively. Through our activities we facilitate dialogue, information and best practice sharing.

Information Resources

• Policy Briefings: This section provides information on a number of specific topics which have been developed into policy briefings as part of the Speaking Out project.

• Consultation Responses and Policy Recommendations: This section provides information on our responses to past and ongoing government consultations, and policy recommendations on key issues.

• Quarterly E-Bulletin: This section in an archive for the project's quarterly e-bulletins which can be downloaded free of charge in electronic format.

• Research: This section provides information on Speaking Out research including Every Organisation Matters - the first ever mapping research of the children and young people's voluntary and community sector published in July 2008, and thematic research on health and well-being, and community empowerment.

Events

In order to provide the voluntary and community sector and our statutory partners with first-hand information about each others work, the Speaking Out project is keen to organise seminars, conferences and round table discussions to facilitate dialogue between the two groups. To date, the project has organised several important events:

• Regional Events series including a London event on Before and After Youth Crime (February 2009), a Peterborough event on social mobility (March 2009) and an event in Manchester on services for young refugee and aslyum seekers (March 2009). Reports on all events have been submitted to the relevant Government departments;

• the first national conference on joining up cross-government agendas for children and young people - 'From 0 to 25' (December 2008); 

• a joint conference with the Foyer Federation and YMCA on the government's placeshaping agenda which brought children and young people together with colleagues from the voluntary and statutory sectors to discuss policy implications (London, May 2008);

• a joint event with the National Youth Agency and Association for Principal Youth and Community Officers on youth justice which gave rise to the Gang, Gun and Knife Crime: Seeking Solutions paper aimed at government (London, February 2008);

• a roundtable discussion on the joint work of the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ) which has informed the Speaking Out's response to the MoJ Third Sector Strategy (London, February 2008);

• a roundtable discussion on the Defra Third Sector Strategy, organised jointly with the Rural Youth Network (London, February 2008) which has fed into the project's response to the Defra consultation;

• a seminar on knife, gun and gang crime (Birmingham, June 2007) with attendees from national agencies, local grassroots projects, the police and youth justice services. A follow-up event was organised in February 2008 in partnership with the NYA;

• a roundtable discussion on the Drugs Strategy (London, October 2007), which fed directly into the projects' response to the Home Office consultation, for the children and young people's voluntary sector.

Further information

For more information on the project including how to get involved in consultations, events and other work, please contact the Policy Team at NCVYS on 020 7278 1041 or email speakingout@ncvys.org.uk

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