Police Youth Volunteer scheme

Descriptions

South Wales Police currently run a Police Youth Volunteer (PYV) scheme aimed at young people, some from vulnerable backgrounds, aged 14- 18 years. The PYVs attend a training and development evening once a week during school terms, with some extracurricular activities during school holidays and weekends. Each training evening lasts about 2-3 hours and take place mostly in local schools. They take part in police and community projects set up in their local area. They are part of a wider Police Cadet scheme that is run nationally by the Volunteer Police Cadet organisation. https://vpc.police.uk/At the moment South Wales Police have 13 groups across the force area, with plans to expand in line with policing demand. There are currently approximately 200 youths working with South Wales Police, with a further 200 waiting to join the scheme. Each group (which is termed a Hub) comprises 15-25 young people. The schemes are currently run day to day by local police officers and PCSOs who volunteer to take responsibility for the PYVs’ development, deployment and training records. This is delivered in duty time. They are assisted in some Hubs by adult volunteer leaders who are vetted and DBS checked. The main aims of the scheme are:• To promote a practical understanding of policing amongst all young people.• To encourage the spirit of adventure and good citizenship.• To support local policing priorities through volunteering and give young people a chance to be heard.• To inspire young people to participate positively in their communitiesThe scheme is not intended as a development course for young people to eventually join the police service, although occasionally a PYV has joined South Wales Police. The force and the Police and Crime Commissioner particularly want to provide the PYVs with a formal qualification or recognition of the skills and experiences they have gained so that they are better equipped for both adult life and to embark on employment or further education. However, until now other than a certificate of completion the PYVs have had no formal qualification or certificate of recognition when they exit the scheme to show what they have achieved during their service.South Wales Police would now like to address this shortcoming and enhance the scheme so that we can offer the PYVs a chance to achieve formal qualifications if they progress through the scheme – to BTEC level 2 equivalent to 2 GCSEs based around public service/policing/employability which would be achieved over a 1-4 year period depending on age. Therefore the purpose of this proposal is not only to provide the PYVs with a recognised qualification but also to provide a more corporate and structured approach across all our PYV Hubs. We stress that provision of educational qualifications is not intended to become the primary aim of the scheme but as a supplementary to better citizenship.The force and Police and Crime Commissioner are supportive of this proposal in principle, but no funds have been formally allocated at this early stage.To progress this, the force would like to invite potential interested parties to a briefing and Q&A session to provide more details. We have previously held one such briefing event and based on feedback from that event in June 2019 we now wish to repeat the presentation. We are looking for colleges or learning providers who may be interested in bidding, either as individual organisations or in partnership with other organisations in the form of consortium bids to run this scheme. This will be a pre-engagement event designed to ascertain interest amongst providers before a Specification can be drawn up and a formal tender procedure carried out.The briefing will take place at Units 10/11 Bocam Park, Pencoed, Bridgend, CF35 5LJ on Friday 18th October at 10:30 am. The presentation will take about 45 minutes after which there will be a break for attendees to assess the presentation content and to discuss with other attendees, if they wish, to establish if there is mutual interest in putting together a consortium type bid. We will then reconvene at about 11:45 to answer any further questions. All questions and responses will be collated and broadcast to all attendees following the event.If you would like to attend please email swp-procurement @south-wales.pnn.police.uk. Please would you provide the names of attendees so that we may advise security who will then allow access to the site. Persons not listed on the email will not be allowed access. Spaces are limited to 2 people per provider/organisation in the first instance but if numbers allow, we will open the invite up to additional attendees. Can you also indicate in your email, if you are content for us to share your organisation/business name with other attendees. This may facilitate any potential consortium bids, but we understand that for commercial reasons you may prefer not to do so.NOTE: To register your interest in this notice and obtain any additional information please visit the Sell2Wales Web Site at https://www.sell2wales.gov.wales/Search/Search_Switch.aspx?ID=95996.