National Youth Strategy

Lord Houghton of Richmond Excerpts

Tuesday 10th December 2024 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I do not have a specific answer on how many were closed, but I think it was a lot. Local authorities’ youth funding in England fell by 73% under the previous Government and, between 2011-12 and 2022-23, the number of local authority-run youth centres—actually, I do have the figure—fell by 53% in England, from 917 to just 425. If you are looking at legacies of the previous Government, that is quite a damning indictment.

[Lord Houghton of Richmond (CB)]

My Lords, if the Government are so keen to expand the role of cadets in a national youth strategy, why have they just pulled the Department for Education’s funding for the cadet expansion programme?

[Baroness Twycross (Lab)]

I might look to the previous Government’s record and the £22 billion black hole that they left in this country’s finances.