Baroness Anelay of St Johns
To ask His Majesty’s Government what progress they have made in developing a National Youth Strategy.
The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Scott of Needham Market) (LD)
My Lords, the time limit for this debate is one hour. With the exception of the opener and the Minister winding, noble Lords have three minutes, which is very tight. When the clock flashes, time is up.
Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Con)
My Lords, this short debate today gives us the opportunity to ask the Minister to provide more information to Parliament and of course to the public about the Government’s plans for a national youth strategy, the nature of their consultation process and the progress they have made.
In answer to my Oral Question last October, the Minister stated:
“This Government are committed to empowering young people to make a difference in their communities and are working with them to develop a new national strategy for young people”.—[Official Report, 31/10/24; col. 1208.]
That is a positive: the Government are partnering with young people to help develop the strategy and are managing a listening exercise to enable young people to have a say on decisions that affect their lives. It was, however, disappointing—the Minister will expect me to refer to this—that the Government decided to wind down the National Citizen Service from March this year. The service was a success and had cross-party support. Its closure will leave a hole in youth services this year while we await the publication and implementation of the Government’s plans.
I am grateful, as always, to organisations with expertise in this area for providing briefings for our debate today. I know that Peers have received expert briefings from organisations including the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, Girlguiding, the National Youth Agency and Youth Access, as well as other organisations.
In the run-up to the general election last year, the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award launched its research paper, Youth Voices 2024. The findings showed that young people are ambitious for their own futures but continue to feel unheard and unsupported on the very issues that will define their lives and careers. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award asks that the national strategy should include a youth pledge, committing to put youth voices and representation at all levels of policy and decision-making on the issues that impact young people. Today, I ask whether the Minister will consider responding positively to that recommendation.
I note that the DCMS has launched a survey, which it describes on its website as a
“national listening exercise to let young people have their say on support services, facilities and the opportunities they need outside the school gates”.
That sounds a very useful survey and I certainly support it; it was announced eight days ago and closes on 16 April. Although it is welcome, I hope that young people will know enough about it and will want to engage with it, to make it as valuable as it can be. It is, of course, a one-off specifically related to the drafting of the national youth strategy paper. I do not criticise that, but I hope that the Minister will reflect further on the request of the DoE Award that that kind of relationship with young people should be a continuing process.
At the moment, rather surprisingly, it is unclear how the national youth strategy will work in practice—work is under way—so I would be grateful if the Minister could clarify the following issues. Will the deficit in funding from the closure of the National Citizen Service be restored, or will that loss of further funding from the youth sector be a permanent reduction in funding? Which measures under the national youth guarantee will be carried forward, given the closure of the National Citizen Service? Does the Minister expect that the strategy will be accompanied by funding additional to that which was detailed in the initial announcement, as we now await the multiyear comprehensive spending review this summer?
How will the strategy work cross-departmentally? That is something I have always been interested in, having been a Minister myself; I know the importance and complexity involved in that. How will the cross-departmental work align and feed into initiatives such as the Young Futures programme, the child poverty strategy, the violence against women and girls strategy, the 10-year health plan, the curriculum and assessment review and indeed the Online Safety Act?
How are the front-line youth workforces, which are out there working so hard, being consulted about the national youth strategy and how it will become operational? There is also some uncertainty about when we might have sight of the national youth strategy or indeed, I appreciate, an interim version of it.
Last November, Ministers said that they were kick-starting—I thought it was rather unfortunate to use a rather violent image, but never mind; football was on their mind, as that was the season, so there we are—the process of consultation. We heard from the Secretary of State on 16 January this year:
“My officials are reviewing the evidence base, which they will consider, and we are launching the strategy in the summer, with an interim report expected in the spring”.—[Official Report, Commons, 16/1/25; col. 46.]
However, we then heard from the Minister, Stephanie Peacock, on 11 February:
“We have now begun our engagement with young people and the sectors that work with them, as part of the co-production process”.
On the face of it, although I do not think this was intended, it looks as though those two statements are contradictory with each other. It would be nice to have some clarity on that. It sounds as though it is cart before horse happening there.
In the February debate, Stephanie Peacock went on to announce:
“We will provide more information to MPs within the next month regarding the development of the national youth strategy”.—[Official Report, Commons, 11/2/25; cols. 104-05WH.]
Even by my maths, I can see that that month has come and gone, so is the Minister able to deliver that further information today? By the way, I think that Members of the House of Lords, not just MPs, would be pleased to see that worksheet as well.
I appreciate that producing a national strategy is a difficult process, especially when one has carried out a wide and clearly well-drafted consultation process. I support the Government’s intent to co-produce that strategy with those who matter—the young people. However, it would be helpful to everyone, not just parliamentarians, for the Minister to be able to clarify what information will be available and when that is likely to be. I know that spring can extend a long way into the distance, but people, particularly young people and those who work with them, want to know the kind of information that is going to be provided publicly. It is crucial that there is clarity for young people to be reassured that the listening exercise really has borne fruit and that the delivery of the strategy will be funded appropriately. I appreciate the difficulty of that in the current climate, with decisions that have had to be made because of our need for the defence of this country, and of course we debate those matters elsewhere.
If a shortage of time prevents the Minister from answering all our questions today—and I suspect it might—then I would be grateful if she might respond to noble Lords in writing and place a copy in the Library of the House. In the meantime, I look forward very much to hearing all other noble Lords who are contributing to this debate.
Baroness Armstrong of Hill Top (Lab)
My Lords, this is such an important issue. We have let down a generation of children and young people. The National Citizen Service, good as it was, and the International Citizen Service, good as it was, were never going to be a replacement for decent youth work activities where young people live, grow up and go to school. Therefore, we have seen disadvantaged children in this country fall behind even further. There are more of them living in families that have poverty and lack of opportunity these days, and I am shocked at how the eye on what was happening was taken off the ball in the past 14 years.
We know that children in the most disadvantaged neighbourhoods make significantly less progress at both primary and secondary school. We know that they are more likely to be in lower-income households and that they are subject to more violence. There is a concentration of the poorest families and children with the poorest outcomes living in a clear set of neighbourhoods. I urge the Government and the Minister to think about this as they develop their strategy.
I really welcome the strategy—there is quite a lot of information for parliamentarians on the website, if you read it carefully, about how they should be engaging with young people in their constituencies or localities on what sort of services are needed and what is missing. It is important that they are invited, and we are invited, during the consultation to do things to help that along—and I shall be doing some of that work over the next few weeks. Will the Minister work on the cross-government involvement and the involvement of civil society?
I was at an event yesterday with AllChild, a place-based children’s and young people’s charity doing really interesting work. It is very enthusiastic about the strategy and needs to be involved. I hope that the Minister will talk to the DfE about training and skills development for those who will be needed to work with young people, whatever we come out with. As somebody who did that for a decade before I came to this place, I could cry when I see how much it has been neglected of late. Furthermore, will the Minister make sure that the Government recognise and understand the importance of place-based work for young people, so that where they grow up and where they go to school there are services that open up opportunities for them?
Lord Aberdare (CB)
My Lords, I welcome the national youth strategy, particularly as it has a significant amount of co-production with young people themselves—although I find it hard to pin down what they will actually produce.
Like others, I have received helpful briefings from a number of organisations, including the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award—which calls itself DofE these days, rather confusingly—as well as the Scouts and OnSide, which runs 15 youth zones across the country. I will focus on enrichment activities carried out by organisations such as these, including sports, arts and cultural activities, volunteering, social action and adventures away from home, which I hope will form a prominent part of the national youth strategy.
There is clear evidence—for example, from a recent DofE report—that these activities can help to address some of the major challenges facing young people and schools. Such challenges include: absenteeism from schools; the growing numbers of young people who are not in education, employment or training; mental health challenges; and the lack of essential life skills that are needed for work, which employers so regularly complain about. Enrichment can be particularly valuable for young people with special needs or from disadvantaged or challenging backgrounds, who may need the extra support that youth organisations such as OnSide can provide. Much of its work is targeted at young people needing extra support.
All I have time for are some more questions for the Minister. First, how will the strategy ensure that the benefits of enrichment activities are fully available to all young people? Will the Government consider the idea of an enrichment guarantee, as proposed by several youth organisations?
Secondly, how does work experience, surely a key enrichment activity, fit with the national youth strategy? Having run work experience programmes myself, with both schools and other bodies, I know how crucial it is in preparing young people for employment, and quality is just as important as quantity.
Thirdly, I was concerned to hear Professor Becky Francis, the chair of the curriculum and assessment review, say at a recent APPG meeting that enrichment was outside the review’s terms of reference. How will the Government ensure that enrichment activities, including work experience, are recognised as an essential complement to, if not part of, the curriculum? Might they consider providing guidance to schools on the use of enrichment activities to improve attendance and tackle other issues facing schools?
I am rapidly running out of time, if not of questions, so I will just end with one more. How will the success of the national youth strategy be defined, and then measured?
Baroness D'Souza (CB)
My Lords, there is no doubt that the announcement of a national youth strategy which will be with us by the summer is good news. The Minister will therefore forgive me if what I have to say may sound a little carping. I have three areas of concern. Where is the funding to come from? What plans are there to co-ordinate the different government departments that may be involved? How is the success of this venture to be evaluated, even in the short term?
On funding, the Government have committed £85 million, plus £100 million to come from a frozen assets fund. The demise of the National Citizen Service will remove perhaps hundreds of millions of pounds from the wider sector, including funding for about 250 youth organisations, much of which was due at the beginning of the new financial year in April. Are the £50 million savings predicted by the removal of the NCS additional to the Budget figures announced?
A further worry is which department is responsible for dispensing the budget. It would seem that the broad remit described would involve several government departments—for example, employment, health, mental health, crime, justice, education and other youth work would, by my count, involve at least five different government departments.
We all know that the best policies in the world can get lost, or modified beyond the original aims, in the business of governance. I have long argued that a Minister for children should be appointed at Cabinet level, thereby giving the planned strategy the weight it deserves and the guarantee of implementation across government. What assurances can the Minister give that the report scheduled for the summer of this year will be implemented in its entirety?
Last November, and before the announcement of the national youth strategy, UK Youth convened the Joined Up Summit. Some 500 leaders and decision-makers from all sectors, together with a representative group of 16 to 25 year-olds, discussed what, in their opinion, the strategy should include. After 15 years of brutal cuts to local government youth work budgets—by about three-quarters since 2010—the consensus was that major investment was now needed. It was agreed not only that such a strategy had to go beyond engagement to empowerment but that young voices must be heard and included from the design and implementation to the evaluation stages. Can the Minister say that this will in fact happen, despite cost and co-ordination issues that may arise?
Finally, I will look briefly at priorities. Who is doing the prioritising and what might the criteria be? It is estimated that three-quarters of youth clubs have closed down. The impact of this is profound. If young people, especially in rural areas, have nowhere to go where they can be both safe and engaged, the inevitable result is street gatherings. Recent research demonstrates that violent gangs and knife crime are significantly more frequent and more serious in those urban and rural areas lacking any youth facilities. I am sure I will get into trouble over this, but I must just say that surely somewhere for the youth to go must take precedence over, for example, one-to-one therapy on gender-change issues?
Recent surveys of generation Z people indicate support—
The Deputy Chairman of Committees (Baroness Scott of Needham Market) (LD)
The noble Baroness has reached her time limit.
Baroness D'Souza (CB)
I am speaking so fast that I can hardly hear myself talk.
My most important point is this. In view of the fact that our youth is somewhat disillusioned, which we know from research, whatever else we do, we have to get this strategy right.
Lord Naseby (Con)
My Lords, my contribution will be a little tangential to this history of what I would call a civic service.
A year ago, on 7 March, I put down an Oral Question, taken on the Floor of the House, about whether His Majesty’s Government had any plans to introduce compulsory, or some other form of, military service. The answer came back clearly: “No. We rely on people being recruited and being volunteers, and we have very good Armed Forces”. At the time, I said that it seemed to me that “warning signals” were coming up and that we would need to review this.
The timing, a year on, is absolutely dead on. Now we move on a year and what do we find? We have a serious lack of men and women for our Armed Forces. We also know from looking at the television that, in today’s world—including in what is happening on the front in Ukraine against Russia—it is men and women and the numbers on the ground that remain important, not just armaments and things flying through the sky. The time has come when we might have to look again at some form of youth service, though not through a copy of the 1948 Act.
I remind the Minister here of what the Minister at that time, Mr Isaacs, said during the passage of the then Bill:
“Primarily, the need for the Bill arises from the fact that the regular components of our Forces have seriously run down, owing to the fact that there has been no regular recruitment during the war”.
Our forces are the same but for other reasons. He then referred to
“the need for the nation to build up efficient, well-trained reserve and auxiliary Forces”.—[Official Report, Commons, 31/3/1947; col. 1671-73.]
That was rightly accepted on an all-party basis.
Today, our country and Belgium are the only two countries that have no form of military training. Everyone else in NATO has all sorts of different kinds. My request to the Minister and the Government—which will, I am sure, have the support of my party—is that this matter be looked at in the context of today’s situation on the ground. I repeat the final words that Churchill said, having supported the then Bill all the way through:
“We should have carried far more weight in the councils of peace if we had had national service”.—[Official Report, Commons, 31/3/1947; col. 1697.]
We have a Prime Minister who is carrying weight in the context of what I am talking about. The challenge is there for the Government. All I say for myself is that I will do anything I can to help on that front.
Baroness Grey-Thompson (CB)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay of St Johns, for securing this debate. I draw the Committee’s attention to my register of interests: I am the chair of trustees for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award and I chair Sport Wales.
As the chair of trustees for the DoE, I see at first hand how deeply young people care about their communities and how they want to shape a better world for all of us. We have put young people at the heart of all our work; I hope that the Government will continue to do the same. Yet, as a generation, they continue to face unprecedented challenges: the lasting impact of Covid-19, rising levels of anxiety and mental health problems, and the cost of living crisis, not to mention a politically turbulent global landscape—and all the while trying to navigate an increasingly digital and atomised world.
At the DoE, we are proud to be part of the Black Youth Alliance, a coalition of leading youth organisations. Together, we share a vision: a future where young people feel safe, respected and heard, and in which they can successfully navigate the undeniably tough time that is adolescence, developing the skills and capabilities that they need to thrive in life and work. Now, more than ever, we need to step up and recognise that young people need and deserve a truly sustainable and effective youth strategy that puts young people at the very heart of policy.
We should perhaps learn from the work happening in Wales. In 2016, Wales set a global precedent by appointing the world’s first Future Generations Commissioner, a role dedicated to safeguarding the interests of young people and future generations. At Sport Wales, we have continued proudly to support the commissioner’s work, and our School Sport Survey shaped the Vision for Sport in Wales. The School Sport Survey 2022 gave young people a powerful voice on sport and well-being, as well as providing an insight into their attitudes and behaviours. It has helped the wider sector better understand how to create a more inclusive and impactful sporting opportunity for young people.
I commend the Government on prioritising the views of young people at the current stage of this consultation. I ask the Minister: can our Lordships’ Chamber be assured that they will continue to engage with young people at every stage of this process to ensure that this will be a youth strategy that delivers equal access for all?
Baroness Wheatcroft (CB)
My Lords, the idea of asking young people what they want is obviously a great one, and I support the national youth strategy as far as it goes. My problem is that a lot of young people simply do not know the opportunities that should be available to them. Some have a very privileged life and go to great schools where huge numbers of facilities are available to them, and some do not and do not get the opportunities to go to the theatre or play an instrument. If they knew much about them, they would probably find them life-changing. The schools into which Andrew Lloyd Webber has gone, with his mission to give everybody a musical instrument, have benefited hugely from that. But did those young people really know that their lives would be changed by playing in an orchestra? I suspect not. It is that sort of issue that needs addressing, and that is why a children’s Minister in Cabinet might well be a good starting point.
However, the starting point that we have now is a national youth strategy to which the nation’s youth will be asked to contribute. I shall therefore contribute remarks relating particularly to the idea of democracy, which is what this is all about. A survey from the Electoral Commission this year found that a third of 11 to 17 year-olds had not heard any mention of politics in their school in the entire last year. That is a year in which there was an election in this country and in the United States—one of the most important in a long time—and their schools did not even talk about it. So it is not surprising that, when the Electoral Commission asked 11 to 25 year-olds whether they would like to know a little more about how politics and democracy work in the country in which they live, 74% said that they would.
My question to the Minister is: what will she do about enabling those children and young people to understand the democratic process, before going deeply into the national youth strategy and asking them all to opine on any number of things? The Electoral Commission found that the majority do not believe that the Government do anything very much and a third do not understand at all what the British Government do. It is not surprising if they feel completely alienated. My suspicion is that this exercise risks only increasing the cynicism among a large number of youngsters.
Baroness Stedman-Scott (Con)
My Lords, three minutes is not enough time to cover all aspects of the subject we are looking at, but it will come as no surprise to noble Lords that I will focus on employment for young people. Whatever youth strategy is developed, agreed and delivered, it must help to stop the flow of young people becoming NEET. Nearly 1 million of our young people are in the NEET group. What does that cost in finance, in economic terms for business, in personal issues and, of course, in social cohesion?
Many young people today grow up in families where they are loved, nurtured and supported at different times in their journey in life. But let me tell noble Lords this: many young people are not—I have met them. Many young people, sadly, are left to their own devices, with no guidance. They do not have a clue what life holds for them. They have every potential to become NEET, to be involved in crime and gangs, to have health issues, and to be economically inactive. I could go on.
I met someone from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme—the young man is over there—and he showed me a quote from a young person who said, “Is it a surprise I’ve got mental health issues, when I haven’t got enough money to live on?”. The issues that they face are absolutely phenomenal. Young people are on a journey. Whether it is starting out in their early years, or whether they are categorised as NEET, it is a journey, and it is one on which they need somebody to be with them, to take them through the highs and lows of life.
In my book, it is about the destination. For me, the destination is that, whatever services a youth strategy provides, it should help young people to transition into the labour market, not leaving them at any point if something goes wrong. I have seen it work: it is cost effective, and if we measure the return on the investment needed, I am telling you, it is magic. I will give your Lordships just one example. I worked on a project where 76% of the young people we got into work were still there a year later. They did not fall out, and the money we invested in keeping them there was well, well worth it. Eighty-five percent of them drastically improved their attendance at school, and 60% of them got five GCSE’s at grade A to C. Ninety-six percent of them are currently involved in education, employment or training. The youth strategy will cover a number of things, but let us get them into work, keep them there and give them a future.
Lord Freyberg (CB)
My Lords, in my limited time, I shall reflect on how the arts can empower the next generation, particularly in light of the lasting harm caused to young people by the previous Government’s misguided EBacc policy, which systematically diminished the value of creative subjects in schools.
As the Government embark on their ambitious national youth strategy, we have a rare opportunity to put arts, culture and creativity at the forefront of national renewal. As the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, said, these are not just enriching experiences, but essential tools for fostering confidence, ambition, collaboration and the generation of ideas—vital skills for a challenging world. They bring out the best in every child, rather than excluding those who do not fit the mould.
The national youth strategy is rooted in a simple but powerful idea: young people should have a say in shaping their own futures and communities. We often discuss youth policy in terms of crime prevention, mental health and economic mobility, yet arts and culture also serve as powerful tools for tackling these challenges. They can also help to solve the special needs crisis, which consumes so much local authority spend. Creative engagement supports mental well-being, reduces anxiety and fosters social connections. Most of all, it bolsters self-esteem.
In our efforts to dismantle barriers to opportunity, we must support initiatives such as the better youth spaces programme, ensuring that every young person has a safe, inspiring place to create and collaborate, regardless of their postcode. The expanded creative careers programme will provide real pathways into industries that contribute over £125 billion to the UK economy.
Through practical guidance, mentoring and work experience opportunities, the programme connects education with industry while breaking down historical barriers to entry in creative fields. This approach recognises that, while talent exists everywhere, opportunity does not, and aims to bridge that gap. At a time when our society can feel divided, the arts offer us a shared language to celebrate diversity—including neurodiversity—bridge differences and cultivate pride in our local and national identities.
The Fabian Society’s recent report Arts for Us All by the independent Arts and Creative Industries Unit rightly advocates for a cultural pass for young people, mirroring successful models in France, Germany and Spain to increase cultural participation among young people. Let us ensure that every young person in Britain can access the creative experiences that will shape their confidence, career and community, regardless of where they come from.
Lord Storey (LD)
My Lords, I declare an interest as a patron of Career Connect and patron of the Royal Life Saving Society UK. A new national youth strategy that engages and empowers young people is not only welcome but essential. This approach, which rightly seeks to place decision-making power in the hands of those affected, offers a valuable opportunity to learn to nurture the future pillars of our nation. I commend the efforts made thus far to co-produce the national youth strategy alongside young people. The national listening exercise, the online survey extending to those with special educational needs and disabilities, and various workshops have demonstrated an effort to consult and collaborate with young people, which is to be applauded.
While the Government have committed £85 million from government funds and £100 million from the dormant assets scheme to improve youth outcomes, there are concerns about whether that funding will be sufficient to address the diverse needs of young people across the country. The decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 has raised concerns about the continuity of support for young people. The new strategy needs to ensure that the services previously provided, which were working well, are effectively replaced or improved on.
The pressures of social media and new technologies are growing ever present. How will the strategy address these challenges to support young people’s mental health and well-being?
I turn to the topics of co-ordination and collaboration. Effective collaboration with various stakeholders is crucial for the success of the strategy. Ensuring effective co-ordination among these groups, as noble Lords know more than most, can be complex. What will “good” look like?
Finally, following the pandemic, young people were denied valuable experiences. The strategy must address the long-term impacts of that disruption on their development and opportunities.
I am delighted to say that we welcome the national youth strategy, particularly its commitment to include the voice of young people from the outset. We also welcome the commitment to better co-ordinated youth services and policies at local, regional and national level.
The Earl of Effingham (Con)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay of St Johns, for securing this important discussion.
As my noble friend Lady Stedman-Scott has highlighted, it appears that we are at a genuinely critical juncture where statistics suggest that approximately 987,000 individuals aged between 16 and 24 are not engaged in education, employment or training. This group of citizens not only face personal challenges but represent a material loss to our nation’s productivity and social cohesion.
It is of huge concern that many young people in our country appear to be in silent crisis. His Majesty’s Official Opposition recognise the huge importance of nurturing our future hard-working and upstanding members of the community, ensuring that they are equipped with skills and values while being offered the opportunities that are necessary to lead fulfilling lives and contribute meaningfully to our society.
It is therefore a great loss from our perspective that in November last year His Majesty’s Government ended the National Citizen Service scheme, introduced by my noble friend Lord Cameron of Chipping Norton as part of his big society initiative. The scheme had an approval rating of 93% and delivered over 1 million experiences to young people, and participants have taken part in over 18 million hours of volunteering. The programme helped our youth to feel valued and purposeful, with my noble friend Lord Cameron describing the decision as a deeply backward and regrettable step. With all due respect to the Government, His Majesty’s Official Opposition agree. On our watch, we committed to allocating £500 million over the period 2023-26 to fund the national youth guarantee, which sought to ensure that every young person in England aged between 11 and 18 had access to regular clubs and activities for after-school enjoyment, experiences away from home and opportunities to volunteer.
We have a number of questions for the Minister. What were the key reasons behind the decision to abolish the National Citizen Service scheme, given its role in engaging over 1 million young people since its inception? How does the new national youth strategy differ from the NCS in terms of objectives, funding and reach, and how will it ensure the same or greater levels of youth participation? The NCS provided structured opportunities for personal development, social mobility and civic engagement. How does the new strategy plan to replace or enhance those elements?
Can the Minister please clarify how the funding previously allocated to the NCS is now being used under the national youth strategy, and whether there will be increased investment in grassroots youth services? Lastly, given the need for consistency and long term planning in youth development, how do the Government intend to measure the success of the national youth strategy, compared to the impact assessments previously conducted for the NCS?
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Baroness Twycross) (Lab)
My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay of St Johns, for initiating this debate and for her ongoing commitment to this subject. It is clear from the debate that, although there may be a difference in our views on how to deliver youth services, there is a collective understanding across your Lordships’ Committee that this is a really important issue and potentially that something needs to change. I thank noble Lords from all sides of the Committee on their interesting and considered contributions. This feels very timely, given recent announcements by Youth Minister Stephanie Peacock, mentioned by a number of noble Lords.
Like many noble Lords here, I have witnessed the crucial and transformative role that youth services play in young people’s lives. Our Government strive to support this sector so that young people are able to be part of a supportive community and have access to positive and enriching activities. This work on the youth sector will help to deliver on the Government’s missions, spreading opportunities, making our streets safer and taking pressure off health services. I was pleased to hear young people’s mental health referenced.
This work will be in partnership with the development of the young future hubs, the curriculum review and further work that our Government have committed to in order to improve young people’s lives. That is why, in November, we announced a co-production of a new national youth strategy. This aims to set out an ambitious long-term vision for young people for the next 10 years and put them at the centre of decision-making on policies that affect them. As noble Lords will be aware, we are co-producing this strategy with young people and the youth sector. This approach will be key to making sure that this strategy supports and recognises the real experience of young people across this country.
Since we last spoke on this topic, we have made excellent progress in our engagement with young people. We have identified how we can work better at reaching those whose voices may not generally be heard and at establishing our way forward. Ministers have met with iWill ambassadors and young people in Bristol. Alongside this, a variety of focus groups have been held across the country, thanks to our regional youth work units. So far, we have heard from young people that they want to see clear solutions, to have access to safe spaces and to feel like the Government are listening to them. This strategy aims to achieve that, and more.
To ensure that young people’s voices are at the heart of the process throughout, we have appointed 13 young people to form a youth advisory group. They have been selected for their impressive contributions in the public space. These members have experience across key areas, including advocacy, violence prevention, social mobility and mental health. An expert advisory group will work alongside the youth advisory group to help to guide the national conversation with young people, providing expertise and challenging our thinking throughout the strategy development.
The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, referenced the national youth survey, which was launched on 5 March. It asks young people what they need to be able to thrive. This survey has already had just over 6,000 responses in the past week, and we clearly hope to get many more. We will collate these and all future responses to shape our strategy, which will be published in the summer.
We are engaging with young people up and down the country through one of the most ambitious listening exercises for a generation, making sure that we reach young people where they are. An expert consortium with cross-sector partners will facilitate widespread youth engagement, working with 10 youth collaborators who are recruited to ensure that all activities are genuinely co-produced. Alongside this, the consortium is also collating data and insights via an evidence review, ensuring that the new national youth strategy builds on what has gone before.
In response to my noble friend Lady Armstrong of Hill Top on cross-government engagement—a point also raised by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay—I say that there has already been extensive cross-government work between the DfE, the Home Office, the Ministry of Justice, DHSC and others. There is great collaboration and huge enthusiasm to join up on key strategies for young people. We have also shared an engagement toolkit so MPs can hold their own discussions with young people or share the toolkit with organisations in their constituencies who work with young people. I encourage Members of your Lordships’ House to do the same.
In response to the point made by the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, about why this had not been circulated to Peers, we had hoped to circulate the same pack through an all-Peers email but, understandably, there are very strict criteria, which I understand the pack failed to meet. I will, however, send it to all Peers present today and will place a copy in the Library.
It is vitally important that we reach young people from all parts of the country, and I welcome your Lordships’ support in achieving this aim and in forwarding the toolkit to your networks. Our national youth strategy will be designed to meet young people’s needs, so we are shaping the content of the strategy around what we learn from them. The strategy will ask 10 to 21 year-olds, expanding to the age of 25 for those with special educational needs and disabilities—a group that was highlighted by the noble Lord, Lord Storey. We are asking young people what they need from the Government and what issues are most prevalent in their lives.
The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, rightly mentioned cross-government liaison. We are working with other government departments to ensure that our strategy provides insights on a variety of issues, from tackling anti-social behaviour to improving physical and mental health, to help us make the biggest impact possible on young people’s lives.
On some of the specific points raised by noble Lords, the noble Lord, Lord Aberdare, and the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, among others, mentioned enrichment. The Department for Education is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school. The £3.4 million Enrichment Partnership pilot aims to improve the enrichment offer to up to 200 secondary schools in three education investment areas. It seeks to enhance school enrichment offers, remove barriers to participation and unlock existing finding and provision. As somebody who benefited hugely as a young person from music in schools and other enrichment opportunities, I agree with the noble Baronesses, Lady D’Souza and Lady Wheatcroft, on the importance of this area.
The noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, raised a lack of understanding or of engagement. It is important for us politicians to recognise that we are responsible for this—it is not necessarily always the young people. I think that was the way in which the noble Baroness approached the issue. We agree that it is essential that pupils develop an understanding of their place in a democratic society so that they can become responsible citizens in a modern Britain. The national curriculum for citizenship provides essential life skills to prepare pupils for adulthood. Pupils also learn the skills of active citizenship through practical opportunities to address issues of concern to them within school and in the wider community. Recruitment to citizenship initial teacher training courses remains unrestricted, enabling providers to recruit future citizenship teachers without constraints from government. The Youth Parliament is DCMS’s key mechanism in the department for engaging with young people and ensuring that their voices are heard in policy and decision-making; I believe that it met relatively recently in the other place.
The noble Baroness, Lady Wheatcroft, also raised the question of whether there should be a children’s Cabinet Minister. The Prime Minister has been clear that we already have one who sees their own role as the Children’s Minister, and every department in the Government is expected to care and genuinely cares about young people, championing their access to opportunities.
The noble Baroness, Lady Stedman-Scott, the noble Lord, Lord Storey, in particular, and the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, highlighted the importance of us addressing the need for employment opportunities for young people. The Government are determined to break down barriers to opportunity for all young people, and we fully recognise the importance of supporting young people at risk of becoming economically inactive at an early age or struggling to find work. Additionally, through the dormant assets scheme, which was mentioned by the noble Lord, Lord Storey, the Youth Futures Foundation has supported over 25,000 young people facing barriers to accessing quality, employment and training since 2019. As part of the Building Futures programme, up to 5,000 young people will be supported to stay in education, employment or training, with intensive mentoring and one-to-one careers coaching.
Returning to the national youth strategy funding, while the local government finance settlement for 2024-25 makes over £69 billion available to local authorities in England, we are investing within DCMS through the national youth strategy. The detail and scale of the funding commitments included in the strategy will be shaped by engagement with young people and the youth sector, and it will be dependent on spending review decisions. While this strategy will take a long-term view of these issues, we are also working hard to provide support during 2025 to local authorities, through our local youth transformation fund to build back lost capability. We have committed over £85 million of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose spaces in places where it is most needed. This includes the better youth spaces fund and completing the youth investment fund projects already started.
As referenced by the noble Baroness, Lady D’Souza, there have been significant cuts over the past 15 years, and spending by local authorities on youth services has decreased by 73% over the past decade. The noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, and the noble Earl, Lord Effingham, referenced the reasons behind the closure of NCS. Last year, this Government made the decision to wind down the National Citizen Service programme from the end of this financial year and to close the National Citizen Service Trust when parliamentary time allows. We recognise the impact NCS has had on a generation of young people. It has enabled over 1 million 15 to 17 year-olds to connect across backgrounds, build confidence and gain vital life and work skills, and those involved should be truly proud of these achievements. However, as my noble friend Lady Armstrong highlighted in the strongest terms, the challenges young people face today are vastly different from when NCS was created. The world has changed and we need a youth strategy and youth organisations that reflect that.
Today’s complex challenges require us to adapt, focusing on cocreating a new strategy with young people to better co-ordinate funding and support where it is needed most. By working across government, civil society and business, we can empower youth more effectively. Today’s debate, which I really welcome, has focused on our commitment to a national youth strategy. This Government are working hard to deliver on our national missions. Supporting the next generation to access the right opportunities forms a cornerstone of this work. Through the new national youth strategy, we are working collectively across government to set a new direction for young people, listening to what they need and responding to those needs with both universal and targeted youth provision.
With noble Lords’ indulgence, I have just a couple more comments before I conclude. We have made excellent progress through our commitment to hearing young people on the things that matter. We have launched one of the most ambitious listening exercises in a generation and are truly excited to share the results in a few months’ time. This debate has been a great opportunity to showcase the role of youth provision in the lives of young people, and I look forward to seeing what we can achieve together. I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Anelay, for securing the debate, and all Members who have attended and taken part.