YOUNG PEOPLE’S REFERENCE GROUP (YPRG) - April 2025

In addition, a range of pre-consultation meetings were held with a sample of organisations working with children and young people who may experience barriers to participating in a consultation process. The purpose of this was to inform the design of the consultation, to ensure it is inclusive of the widest range of children and young people.

The Young Person’s Reference Group (YPRG) have now completed their consultations (61 sessions in total) in a wide range of settings with children and young people through Northern Ireland, consulting with over 1000 individuals. This included 5 wider engagement events, 2 of which were focused on young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities.

The YPRG have developed a survey to capture views from children and young people;this can be completed by clicking the following link: - Children and young person's survey on youth work(external link opens in a new window / tab). This is open to any child or young person, aged 4-25 to complete including those who have not engaged in youth services.

The group have produced their first draft of policy recommendations, role & purpose and a vision statement , which they presented to the 5 PRG subgroups on 7 February at Ulster University. These have been issued for comment and there may be a possibility of meeting again to discuss further and refine.

They also presented their findings to the Cross Departmental Group on 5 March.

DE officials recently met with the YPRG to discuss refining recommendations, future role of the group and to prepare for a meeting with the Minister which will take place in the coming weeks.

POLICY REFERENCE GROUP (PRG)

The last PRG meeting took place on 11 March in Rathgael House, Bangor.  Further meetings are scheduled to take place ed on 13 May, 25 June and 9 September.

POLICY REFERENCE GROUP (PRG) SUB-GROUPS

The 5 PRG Sub-Groups have been asked to submit their Final Reports to DE in early May.

Access and Inclusion

The report is due in May 2025.

Delivery Innovation

The Sub-Group submitted its final report to DE on 16 April.  Youth Work Policy Team would like to take the opportunity to thank members for progressing this work which will help inform policy recommendations to the Minister.

Strategic Engagement and Communications

The Sub-Group met on 27 February and reflected on the University of Ulster event organised by DE on 7 February. There was consultation with constituent groups to get feedback is and a final meeting took place on 15 April.

Workforce Development & Growth

The joint Chairs advised that their group met with NIPSA, MENCAP and the Welsh Workforce Development Group.  A Practitioner’s Survey was also carried out, the results of which will be reflected in the Sub-Group’s Final Report to DE.

Youth Work for Young People

The Sub-Group suggested that the YPRG’s vision and purpose of youth work statement should sit alongside its definition rather than try to merge both. The group’s meeting on 26 March focused on youthwork in the curriculum, youthwork in schools and a presentations on how best to support and further develop the voice of young people in youth work.

CROSS-DEPARTMENTAL GROUP

The Cross Departmental Group last met on 5 March 2025. Representatives from the Young Person's Reference Group (YPRG) attended the meeting to provide their presentation on YPRG: Vision Statement, Purpose of Youth Work and Recommendations from their consultations with young people.  Within their presentation they set out their initial findings from their consultations with young people which focus around six thematic areas:  who is youth work for; where and when should youth work take place; why will youth work have the best impact; what should youth work involve; and why should youth work be delivered.  The YPRG will continue to support the development of the new policy.

Updates were provided by DE on the work of the Policy Reference Group, including the five PRG Sub-Groups; and the Project Board. Additionally, an update was provided on the Youth Work Practitioner Survey and focus groups. Results of the surveys are being analysed and that a number of focus groups are being rolled out.  This is expected to be completed by mid May. 

DE encouraged other Departments to provide information on their work with children and young people to inform Youth Work Policy Team’s proposals to the Minister.

The next Cross Departmental Group meeting has been arranged for early June 2025.

PROJECT BOARD

The Project Board has met six times since the Policy Review commenced and most recently on 18 March 2025.  The next meeting is scheduled for June 2025.

Youth Work Policy Team will bring forward a paper with an overview of the research papers on the Lessons Learned Log;  the Final Reports from YPRG and the 5 PRG Sub-Groups and a paper on linkages to other DE policies and programmes.