Review of Voluntary Sector Organisations
(Community Learning and Development)
LGBT YOUTH SCOTLAND
27 July 2010
Contents
Page
1. Introduction
1
2. Context and background
1
3. Key strengths and good practice
1
4. How well did LGBT Youth Scotland meet the needs of its
stakeholders?
2
5. How effective was LGBT Youth Scotland in key aspects of
management?
4
6. How effective was the leadership of LGBT Youth Scotland?
5
7. What is LGBT Youth Scotland’s capacity to improve?
5
8. Main points for action
5
9. What happens next?
6
Appendix 1: Quality indicators used to evaluate LGBT Youth
Scotland
6
1.
Introduction
In January 2010, the Scottish Government (SG) commissioned HM Inspectorate of
Education (HMIE) to undertake a review of Lesbian Gay Bisexual and Transgender
(LGBT) Youth Scotland. HMIE and SG agreed the quality and performance
indicators to be used in the review from the framework of indicators within the HMIE
publication How Good Is Our Community Learning and Development?2
(HGIOCLD?2).
The fieldwork for the review took place in May 2010. HM Inspectors interviewed
staff, board members and young people in LGBT Youth Scotland’s Headquarters in
Edinburgh. They visited LGBT establishments in Glasgow and Dumfries, and
observed some of the work of the organisation in Fife and the Scottish Borders.
Questionnaire responses from eight organisations were analysed.
2.
Context and background
LGBT Youth Scotland was established as a national youth organisation in 2003.
Since then it has grown significantly. It operates as a company limited by guarantee
and is managed by a governing board, currently with 10 members. The main aim of
the organisation is ‘to work to empower lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender young
people and the wider LGBT community so that they are embraced as full members of
the Scottish family at home, school, and in every community’. The organisation
provides direct youth and community based services for LGBT young people,
conducts national programmes and undertakes development work. The organisation
has provided advice at a national level on equalities and diversity, youth work and
education.
LGBT Youth Scotland receives its funding from a number of sources including the
Scottish Government, locally based statutory organisations, The Big Lottery Fund
and the European Union. It currently employs 20 full-time, three part-time staff and
ten sessional youth workers. It operates from premises in Edinburgh, Glasgow,
Dumfries, Galashiels and Dundee and currently provides services in 11 council areas
in Scotland. The Dumfries base also provides services for adults in the local area.
Over the past two years, the organisation has sought to ensure a sustainable future
following a period of significant challenge. The Board moved quickly to secure the
leadership of the organisation by the appointment of a new chief executive.
3.
Key strengths and good practice
•
Well-motivated and skilled volunteers.
•
Commitment of all stakeholders to the work of the organisation.
•
Effective practice in engaging young people in service reviews.
1
•
Work on tackling homophobia and homophobic bullying in schools.
•
Contribution to policy through well-informed analysis of issues affecting LGBT
young people.
4.
How well does LGBT Youth Scotland meet the needs of its stakeholders?
LGBT Youth Scotland is valued by its stakeholders. It has a strong level of influence
and credibility when providing information and research on the needs of LGBT young
people. A work plan provides details of the organisation’s effective progress against
specific grants. The organisation delivers high quality programmes and projects. It is
helping to improve the capacity of other professionals, such as police, health and
education to address issues affecting LGBT young people. LGBT Youth Scotland
has developed a useful toolkit to help teachers tackle homophobia and homophobic
bullying in schools. The organisation has implemented revised child protection
training, tracking and disclosure checking procedures. A “Framework for Protecting
Children, Young People and Adults at Risk”, drawn from identified effective practice
in the voluntary sector, has been produced and implemented well. As a result young
people are now safer and staff and volunteers are more aware of child protection
issues. New risk management and financial procedures have been put in place.
Web-based services are being used successfully to improve national coverage by the
organisation. The overall impact of the organisation’s work is not yet being fully or
systematically evaluated. There is limited collection or analysis of data to
demonstrate improvements in performance or reveal trends over time. A more
systematic and planned approach would enable the organisation to better
demonstrate its considerable achievements.
How well does LGBT Youth Scotland impact on young people?
LGBT Youth Scotland delivers a wide range of successful projects and programmes
which are having a positive impact on the lives of LGBT young people. Young
people involved in groups are developing greater confidence, skills and resilience.
As a result they feel more able to remain engaged in full-time education and progress
to college or university or employment. Those benefiting from participation have
become more active in their community. Some young people have progressed to
become volunteers within the organisation and are becoming engaged in the
development of services through involvement in the National Youth Council and
through becoming members of the LGBT Youth Scotland Board. A number of young
people have been trained to undertake service reviews with participants and this
work has directly influenced improvement plans within the organisation. Young
people benefit from improved communication skills and experience of team working.
They respect the views of others. A few young people have progressed into full-time
paid employment with LGBT Youth Scotland following experience as service users,
volunteers and sessional workers. National projects such as the National Gathering
and development of online and text messaging services are reaching out to more
LGBT young people across Scotland. This helps those working in the organisation
develop a wider understanding of the issues LGBT young people in Scotland face.
The organisation needs to develop work with wider networks and partners, including
more councils and community planning partnerships to meet the needs of LGBT
2
young people well across Scotland. There is a need to improve the use of
accreditation and certification to recognise and celebrate young people’s
achievements. LGBT Youth Scotland needs to improve how it monitors and
evaluates the outcomes for young people involved in their projects and programmes.
How well did LGBT Youth Scotland impact on staff and volunteers?
Staff and volunteers working with LGBT Youth Scotland are highly motivated and
confidently deliver their work with young people. They are highly valued by the
organisation. Many volunteers are former users of the services provided. In
Glasgow, for example, volunteers from different backgrounds provide a range of
skills of value to the organisation. Volunteers undertake a wide variety of training,
including child protection and protection of vulnerable adults. This training provides
them with high levels of up-to-date knowledge and support. Staff and volunteers
across Scotland work very effectively with a range of other professionals to engage
with and support young people. Their work and contribution is highly valued by
partner agencies. Volunteers receive regular communication from the organisation.
As a result, they feel that they are part of the organisation and they make a
significant contribution to its work. LGBT Youth Scotland has begun to offer
volunteering awards, but there is not yet a systematic approach to this work. As a
result, the formal recognition of the contribution of volunteers is under-developed.
Many volunteers successfully progress from working to further learning or new
employment. The organisation does not yet track the progress of its volunteers.
While the organisation can effectively show the impact of staff and volunteers on its
work, it cannot yet show the impact and added value of the organisation on the lives
of its staff and volunteers.
How well does LGBT Youth Scotland impact on communities?
LGBT Youth Scotland works very effectively with young people to develop their
confidence to participate in the forums and events delivered by the organisation.
Good quality training allows young people to develop their confidence and skills in
participation. The National Youth Council (NYC) offers confident young people an
opportunity to have their views heard at national level. Participants from the NYC
have now spoken about LGBT issues at national conferences on mental health and
equalities. LGBT Youth Scotland has developed a range of productive partnerships
and networks with statutory agencies to develop new services. In Dumfries, this
allows young people to work with professionals developing new services for LGBT
young people in the area. This work is innovative and inclusive. The organisation
has identified particular risks of exclusion for transgender young people and has
developed new approaches and services such as the Beyond Gender group to
address this. However, while work to build the capacity of LGBT young people to
participate at national levels and within organisation based forums and groups is very
successful, there remains further work to do at the level of communities across
Scotland where young people live. The development of community based activities
by the organisation was inconsistent. Work in Dumfries and in the cities is strong,
but other areas are far less developed. There are insufficient links to community
planning structures and local decision-making to ensure that the organisation’s
equalities work features in local communities across Scotland. Links at strategic
levels in local authorities require further development to build upon good work in
3
individual schools. Planning, evaluation and monitoring of capacity building is
under-developed. As a result, the organisation does not yet have a clear picture of
its impact upon LGBT young people in local communities.
5.
How effective was LGBT Youth Scotland in key aspects of management?
Inclusion, equality and fairness
LGBT Youth Scotland makes very effective use of a wide variety of methods to reach
out to and work with socially isolated LGBT individuals and groups. These include
holding events, drop in youth clubs, using the Internet, and organising awareness
raising programmes in schools and in the wider community. These approaches
ensure that young people feel welcomed and can safely participate in activities. Staff
have developed new services such as the Beyond Gender project to address gaps in
their provision such as services for transgender young people. Regular training and
reflection encourages staff to work with partners to develop new services to meet
specific needs. These include mental health concerns, suicide prevention and the
development of new ways to raise awareness of issues faced by LGBT young people
in Scotland. The organisation makes very effective use of both local and national
events to promote positive social attitudes. The National Gathering, attendance at
Pride events across the country and the use of the innovative LGBT Youth Charter
Mark for statutory services are examples of this. The organisation promotes relevant
equalities legislation. LGBT youth Scotland should continue to work to address
geographic barriers to participation in their work with young people across Scotland.
Participation of service users and other stakeholders
LGBT Youth Scotland successfully involves young people in its work. Stakeholders
hold the organisation in high regard. The Service Review Groups are a very effective
way of gathering the views of participants on services planned and provided. Those
taking part in the National Youth Council benefit from their experience and are able to
confidently express their views about the organisation. The National Youth Council
elects four members to the governing board. There is scope to widen the
membership of the board to bring in other perspectives and provide external
challenge. Some youth members of the board are not yet wholly confident about
expressing their views or engaging in debate on policy at formal board meetings.
Operational planning
The organisation has a detailed work plan which sets out objectives against each
category of grant funding. Some of the plans are linked well to the national
performance framework. Responsibilities to report to grant funding bodies such as
European Union, Big Lottery Fund and the SG are met effectively. An improvement
plan has been produced to improve the coherence of planning and tracking
performance across the organisation. This is at an early stage. There is recognition
of the need to set a more coherent, focused and limited number of priorities for the
whole organisation. A clearer approach to overall organisational planning and a
stronger strategic lead from the board would help set a context for staff to evaluate
their work more effectively.
4
6.
How effective is the leadership of LGBT Youth Scotland?
The board of LGBT Youth Scotland meets regularly and considers the views of
participants and stakeholders. The recently appointed chief executive has led the
organisation through a difficult and challenging period whilst improving a number of
key operational management procedures. Responsibility for leading key aspects of
work is appropriately distributed across the staff team. A more systematic approach
to improvement planning has been introduced to help the organisation improve its
knowledge of overall strengths and weaknesses in provision. Overall strategic
planning at board level is too limited. This results in a lack of coherence across the
organisation’s activities, programmes and services. There is a need to make clearer
decisions about the balance of priorities for direct service provision; capacity building
through other organisations, and the provision of research and policy advice on
equalities issues. The board would benefit from widening its membership to bring in
external challenge. Improved national geographic coverage is needed through
establishing networks across community planning partnerships.
7.
What is LGBT Youth Scotland’s capacity to improve?
LGBT Youth Scotland has a good capacity to improve. Stakeholders at all levels are
strongly committed to the work of the organisation in improving outcomes for LGBT
young people. Service Review Groups enable participants to express their views
and help to improve provision. This approach could be extended to other
stakeholders to provide a more rounded assessment of performance. The board
should now use its improvement planning to set a clearer and more succinct set of
priorities.
8.
Main points for action
LGBT Youth Scotland should take action to address the following main points for
action.
•
Improve the national coverage of the organisation through developing links
with community planning partnerships and related networks.
•
Develop a coherent strategic plan for the whole organisation.
•
Widen the representation of stakeholders on the governing board.
•
Improve evaluation of the impact the organisation’s work and take a more
systematic approach to the collection and analysis of data on performance.
5
9.
What happens next?
HMIE will take no further action in relation to this positive report. Colleagues in the
SG will continue to monitor progress in relation to grant funding.
Peter Hamilton
Managing Inspector
HMIE
Appendix 1:
Quality indicators used to evaluate LGBT Youth Scotland
HM Inspectors use performance measures and quality indicators when making
judgements in their reviews of national voluntary organisations. The quality
indicators used were selected from those published in June 2006 in the publication
HGIOCLD?2. This publication is available on the website www.hmie.gov.uk.
Improvements in performance
Impact on young people
Impact on the community
Impact on paid and voluntary staff
Inclusion, equality and fairness
Participation of service users and stakeholders
Operational planning
Leadership and direction
6
good
good
good
good
very good
very good
satisfactory
satisfactory
This report uses the following word scale to make clear judgements made by
inspectors.
excellent
very good
good
satisfactory
weak
unsatisfactory
outstanding, sector leading
major strengths
important strengths with some areas for improvement
strengths just outweigh weaknesses
important weaknesses
major weaknesses
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Crown Copyright 2010
HM Inspectorate of Education