Young Inspectors Service 

Introduction 

• Who are we and what do we do? 

  The Barking and Dagenham Young Inspectors Service are a group of young people who have been trained to undertake inspections, surveys, market research and consultations.

  The Young Inspectors have been professionally trained by the National Children’s Bureau, KIDS, British Youth Council, Barking and Dagenham Engagement Team and KIDS.

  Their area of expertise is in advising services on how they can make their service more accessible for young people, this includes what they have on offer for young people, information that they provide to young people, members of staff’s communication skills and attitudes to young people and the general environment.

  How is this done?

  Inspections form the basis of their work. The young people can inspect a service through a number of methods. These are

  A) Mystery shopping - This is where a Young Inspector will act as a customer to see how the service responds to their needs. The young person will be ‘under cover’ and will use the service as any other young person might. This gives the Young Inspector a true reflection of the quality of service.

  B) Observation - This process involves the Young Inspectors looking around a service to see what the service has to offer young people and whether it meets the needs of young people. This inspection will be announced and the service will be aware that the Young Inspectors will be coming.

  C) Interview - Young Inspectors will conduct an interview with a service manager or members of staff to see what is good about their service, and what may need to improve in order to offer the best possible service to young people.

  D) Surveys - The Young Inspectors are skilled in using this process to obtain quantitative information about the service. The Young Inspectors will develop a list of questions in a young person friendly language that are relevant to the service. Findings from the surveys will indicate how effective the service is.

  E) Questionnaires - The Young Inspectors are skilled in using this process to obtain qualitative information about the service. Young people friendly language is used to engage young people in the process. Findings from the questionnaires will indicate how effective the service is.

  F) Training videos - A group of Young Inspectors re-enact the inspection of a service giving constructive feedback.
   
  With all these inspections, the preparation involves research on the service and they will not go ahead without the Young Inspector having a working knowledge of the service. A written report, including the Young Inspectors findings and recommendations, is produced after the inspection process has been completed.

  To date Barking and Dagenham Young Inspectors Service have inspected over forty services/venues. These have included: Children’s Centre’s, Youth Service provisions, Youth Participation and Engagement Teams, Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, Pharmacies for the Young People Friendly Scheme (condom distribution), Heritage and Cultural organizations, Libraries, Leisure Centres, Police Safer Transport Team and Housing Services for young people

  Barking and Dagenham Young Inspectors have also carried out a number of consultations, which include the Barking and Dagenham Children and Young People’s Plan 2011-14, Ofsted to share young people’s ideas of how best to work with young people in schools and senior management within the Primary Care Trust and Children’s Services of Barking and Dagenham.

  Interviews have been conducted with Heads of Services across a range of services within the local authority. These have included the Head of the Schools Admissions Unit, the Child Voice Co-ordinator, managers of Children’s Centre’s and the Head of Youth Support Services. Through this process the face to face interviews have helped shape the service’s thinking about what they deliver to young people at the first point of contact.

   

• History of the project moving to a service 

  In the Autumn of 2009 Barking and Dagenham joined the look, listen and change consortium. This was hosted by the National Children’s Bureau with support from the British Youth Council and KIDS. Young Inspectors began as a pilot project which involved over thirty local authorities, charities and other third sector organisations.

  The Young Inspectors Programme gave young people a voice in how services in their local area should be shaped.

  How was this done? The Young Inspector would inspect the service using a variety of inspection techniques as described in section 1. After the inspection a report would be written with recommendations made. A review period was given for Young Inspectors to see if recommendations were met and improvements made. To date we have completed 40 inspections and 6 reviews.

  In addition to this our Young Inspectors from Barking and Dagenham were the official ambassadors for the Young Inspectors Project at the NCB summer reception at Westminster. They have presented at Health conferences to a range of health professionals of the best methods to undertake research with and on behalf of young people, they have presented to councillors, senior police officers and, most recently, an Under-Secretary of State from the Department of Communities and Local Government.

  The pilot ended in March 2011 and as a local authority we were one of the few that continued the project albeit within a different framework.

  What began as a pilot project has evolved into a service. The ethos of the service is still the same: Young people inspecting services and making recommendations that will benefit not only the organizations, but young people who use the service or want to use the service. As a result of this change services have to pay for the Young Inspector Service from April 2011.

   

• Why should you use this service? 

  Article 12 of the United Nations Conventions on the rights of the child states:
  
  1. Parties shall assure to the child who is capable of forming his or her own views the right to express those views freely in all matters affecting the child, the views of the child being given due weight in accordance with the age and maturity of the child.
  2. For this purpose, the child shall in particular be provided the opportunity to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting the child, either directly, or through a representative or an appropriate body, in a manner consistent with the procedural rules of national law.

  With this in mind young people are best placed to inspect the services that they have access to. Ensuring they are able to influence decisions that will affect young people and have the right to express their views on behalf of themselves and other young people. The Barking and Dagenham Young Inspectors are professionally trained to undertake this task ensuring that all inspections are undertaken with sensitivity and conditionality. Involving young people in the decision making process is not only good practice, but enshrined in law.

  Furthermore, young people’s involvement in inspections and service delivery is key to ensuring the best possible outcomes when externally assessed. Ofsted, for example, values the involvement of young people and credits services that listen to the views of young people and work with them to shape their service.
  
  An example of this is the Young Inspectors involvement with Abbey Children’s Centre, both as a base for fortnightly sessions and a service that they inspected. Abbey Children’s Centre was the first Children’s Centre in London to be awarded ‘Outstanding’.
  
  The Ofsted report made reference to the involvement of the Young Inspectors and their valued input.

   

• What you get when you choose to commission the Young Inspectors 

  Inspection package 1 (Price from £450)

  • A pre inspection meeting to discuss specific questions/topics the client would like asked at the initial inspection.
  • Observations by Young Inspectors of the building, workers and users
  • Interviews of workers.
  • A survey of service users.
  • A full written report of findings and recommendations sent via email or post
  • A six month review inspection, which will include a report on the progression made from the original recommendations.

  Inspection package 2 (Price from £700)

  • A pre inspection meeting to discuss specific questions/topics the client would like asked at the initial inspection
  • Preparation work with the Young Inspectors to create a specific inspection criteria
  • Observations by Young Inspectors of the building, workers and users
  • Interviews of workers
  • A survey of service users
  • A separate mystery shopping inspection
  • A full written report of findings and recommendations sent via email or post
  • A power point presentation of findings to share with staff and service users, this can be presented by Young Inspectors with time for a Q & A session
  • A six month review inspection, which will include a report on the progression made from the original recommendations

  Consultations starting (Price from £300)

  This is a bespoke service and prices are negotiable based on how many different focus groups the Young Inspectors would consult with and the time period to complete the consultation.

  Market Research Starting (Price from £600)

  Market research can reach a large audience through a number of mediums. These may include web based, face to face, telephone calls. Whatever your requirements are we can meet them in a professional and confidential manner.

  Bespoke inspections

  We are able to create an inspection to suit your services needs which can include any or all of the above inspection formats. Prices can be negotiated once the needs of the service and the aims of the inspection have been clearly identified.

  Training video’s (Prices starting from £1500)

  This will follow an inspection and will involve the findings and recommendations that will enable your team to look at what they did well and what can be improved. This method for feeding back offers a creative and engaging way of presenting the findings and recommendations and allows the service, and its users, to see views and experiences of the Young Inspectors first hand. 

   

• Testimonials  

  Testimonial from Angela Bennett, Executive Officer London Borough of Barking and Dagenham:

  ‘It was important that I could use the young inspectors for this mystery shopping as we needed to test staffs attitude to teenagers and to identify what information was being told (whether correct or incorrect) to young people.  It was also necessary to understand what young people thought of Council services and if their needs were fully met.
  
  This report was circulated to the relevant managers in Housing Advice and I believe that recommendations have since been made on how to improve the service and to prevent young people in real situations having to go through the same experience that the inspectors went through’.
  
  Testimonial from Janet James, Head of School Admissions London Borough of Barking and Dagenham:
  
  ‘From my experience working with youth, I personally think it is important that we hear what our youngsters have to say and listen and take on board their comments and accommodate them where ever we can and Barking and Dagenham should be first class leaders in this well worth while project. Thank you for asking me to be part of this project it was a privilege to be interviewed by such a lovely young lady and her supporting mentor’.
  
  Testimonial from Chris O' Connor, Head of User and Stakeholder Engagement, Ofsted:

  ‘Seven young inspectors from Barking and Dagenham visited Ofsted’s London offices on the 12 November 2010 as part of the Children’s Commissioner’s National Takeover Day. The inspectors reviewed the current Ofsted user Engagement Strategy and made suggestions about how it could be improved and made more young people friendly. The inspectors also assessed our inspection report styles and came up with ideas about how maintained schools should be inspected in the future. The inspectors were very professional throughout the day and came up with lots of good ideas that have been taken forward for implementation and I would definitely work with them again’.

  Testimonial from Susan Low, Sexual Health Promotion Specialist Nurse- Bucks PCT:

  ‘The presentation by the Young Inspectors Project from Barking and Dagenham at the NCB conference was the highlight of the day as far as I was concerned, here we had young people who are being asked to critique services and then present that information to a large audience.  Not an easy task for even the most experienced of presenters, they shone! I was impressed not only by the work that they had done but how they worked as a team offering support to each other and how much the experience will have a positive effect for their futures’.

  Testimonial from Katrina Moore, Condom Distribution Officer, Terence Higgins Trust:
   
  In the past year the Young People Friendly Condom Distribution Scheme has benefitted greatly from the work of the Young Inspectors. They were able to carry out "secret shops" and assessments on many of the sites in Barking and Dagenham who offer sexual health services and advice to Young People in the area. Their feedback became an essential part of improving sexual health services for Young People in Barking and Dagenham. The Young Inspectors carried out these shops on Pharmacies, Children's Centre’s, Youth Clubs, and Youth Services. They accessed the services in each location and assessed how "Young People Friendly" each site was. These shops flagged up issues that would have otherwise not come to light had it not been for the Young inspectors. These issues were then flagged up with particular sites so that necessary changes could be made to the service. In addition to the secret shops the Young Inspectors assisted in training Pharmacists and their staff on the Young People Friendly scheme. In the training they highlighted issues that keep Young People from accessing sexual health services and helped the pharmacists and their staff understand how to alleviate some of the concerns that Young People have regarding privacy, confidentiality and accessibility of sexual health services. I believe the perspective of the Young People and the work of the Young inspectors greatly improved and influenced people's ability to provide better sexual health services to Young People in Barking and Dagenham. 

   

• Contact us 

  Carl Reid
  Barking and Dagenham Young Inspectors Service Manager
  The Vibe
  195-211 Becontree Avenue
  Dagenham
  RM8 2UT
  Phone 020 8270 6031
  Email carl.reid@lbbd.gov.uk

  Sally Allen-Clarke
  Senior Youth Worker- Participation
  The Vibe
  195-211 Becontree Avenue
  Dagenham
  RM8 2UT
  Phone 020 8270 6030
  Email sally.allen-clarke@lbbd.gov.uk