Children, Young People & Families

Lancashire County Council – Childminder Consultation
What are the challenges facing parents and childminders in accessing Free Early Years Entitlement? What are parents’ perceptions of childminders – or childminders’ perceptions of them? Lancashire County Council asked Qa to find out

The investment by the current Government of £30 million for relationship support interventions denotes a shift in thinking from improving the parent-child relationship towards supporting the parents’ own relationship

Providing integrated support services and information
Children’s Centres are a vital element of the Government’s “Children’s Plan” under which every child will have the opportunity to fulfil their potential. Research is an excellent way to establish whether these centres are helping to meet this aim, and can provide valuable information to aid their future development.

Helping children and young people achieve their potential
Action for Children is a national charity committed to helping the most vulnerable children and young people achieve their full potential by overcoming injustice, deprivation and inequality. Having established the Safe and Secure Project, the charity commissioned Qa to undertake an external evaluation to assess whether this initiative was meeting its aim of improving the availability of – and access to – therapeutic support services to children who have been sexually abused

Meeting the required training standards
The Children’s Workforce Strategy recognises that a suitably qualified workforce is essential if children are to have the quality services they need. Since 2006 the government has provided £250m to help create a more professional early years workforce. Research can help you assess the qualifications your staff hold and determine their future training needs

Conducting qualitative impact evaluation research
Yorkshire Forward invested £2.5m in seven Prince’s Trust programmes from 2006 – 2009. As part of a larger impact evaluation study Qa were asked to conduct research with some of the young people who took part in these programmes

Supporting key Prince’s Trust groups
Be Enterprising aims to support young people who are interested in becoming self-employed and require help to test their ideas, write business plans, start their own businesses or achieve other education, training or work goals. It targets young people aged 18 – 30, some of whom are ex-offenders, in care or leaving care, or low achievers

Targeting the right audience at the right time
At the height of the financial crisis in 2009 Qa investigated how much young people knew about money, their attitudes to saving, and financial institutions in general. Since young people are often reluctant to take part in research, it was decided that the best strategy was to approach them at an event for under-eighteens held at ‘Embrace’ nightclub in Sheffield.

Covering gaps in market knowledge
Providing the best possible childcare market means understanding the needs of families and young people. Following earlier research and the emergence of gaps in their understanding of the local childcare market, Sheffield City Council selected Qa to conduct a large-scale research project