Voices of the next generation

The importance of listening to young people is now being officially recognised

About one in five of the population of England is under 19. That is more than 12 million young people – some old enough to get married, start jobs, vote and join the army, but most of whom are children. They are the next generation of adults. Are they taken seriously?

Two years ago, in a speech on a housing estate in south London, the Prime Minister Tony Blair outlined the Government's programme for young people. He described a resource that was constantly renewing itself, at a vulnerable stage and in critical need of attention, in an age when pressures on youngsters have never been greater.

The result is the Children and Young People's Unit (CYPU), a government office that is breaking new ground in Whitehall and in local government by joining up policy-making for children and young people, and putting their interests at the heart of government. The CYPU celebrated its second birthday earlier this month.

For the first time, its supporters say, the interests, needs, rights and responsibilities of young people are being addressed in an initiative intended to break down the barriers between different government departments and between the state and voluntary sectors. The CYPU has its own minister, John Denham, within the Home Office, but its remit is across the whole of government. Gordon Brown, Chancellor of the Exchequer, chairs a Cabinet Committee on Children and Charles Clark, Secretary of State for Education and Skills is the Cabinet minister responsible for the Unit.

So what is the Children and Young People's Unit all about? Its director, Althea Efunshile, states that the main objectives are "to influence policy in the name of children and young people, make their services preventive not reactive, be a centre of expertise on their issues and to ensure that they are involved in the development of services". The Unit is about improving mainstream provision for youth.

"If the Government is going to improve the life chances and welfare of young people in general, it can only be done by looking at the whole child in the context of the whole range of provision," she says. "That is quite a challenge.

"At the end of the day, our vision is to improve services for children in the mainstream, not just at the margins. Our purpose is to speak on behalf of young people and youth issues – we're the people who know what's happening to young people, what they need and what they want."

In the two years of its life, the Children and Young People's Unit has laid down the groundwork for this task. One of its first achievements has been to consult widely with all parties involved – and not least among children and young people themselves. An "overarching strategy" for young people based on the replies will be published in the New Year.

As part of the consultation process a 25-member Children and Young People's Advisory Forum has been created, where young people and children between 12 and 18 can sit down and discuss issues of importance to them. The Forum has contributed to the work of the Unit and international issues, such as work on a European White Paper on youth.

In 2001, the Minister for Young People, John Denham, launched four core principles at the heart of the work of the CYPU – which will be taken on board by every government department in deciding on policy. Meanwhile, in practical terms, the unit has been helping to distribute money to hundreds of schemes that, it says, will help and empower tens of thousands of children and young people in the most deprived areas and from the most disadvantages families. Two government funds, the Children's Fund and the Local Network Fund, will together dispense £450m over the first three years.

Eleven government departments – from education to defence – are now drawing up action plans for young people as part of the strategy. How will different government departments work together? Althea Efunshile hopes the long-term outcome will be a sea change in how government looks at children and young people. "In the long term, what matters is what happens in the mainstream. That's what we hope to change."