Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 11th February 2015 Commons Chamber

[The Minister for Civil Society (Mr Rob Wilson)]

Social enterprises and charities make an invaluable contribution to our economy and society, and I am delighted to join my hon. Friend in thanking those charities in Norfolk and others across the country for their work. We are investing about £470 million over the spending review period directly to support charities and voluntary groups.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

T7. At Prime Minister’s questions in November last year, the Prime Minister said that “there are 1,000 more GPs across the country than there were in 2010.”—[Official Report, 5 November 2014; Vol. 587, c. 822.]According to the UK Statistics Authority, however, there were actually 356 fewer. That is just one error. The UKSA recently revealed that, since May 2010, it had had to investigate the Government more than 200 times for the use of dirty statistics. When will this Government stop their fiddling?

[Mr Speaker]

Order. We have got the gist of the hon. Gentleman’s question.

Youth Service Provision

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 3rd December 2014 Westminster Hall

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship yet again, Mr Davies. I say in opening that I am rather disappointed; when I look round the Chamber, I see that we have Opposition Members who are interested in youth services, but we have only the Minister to reply on behalf of the Government. It is very disappointing, but even so, I am grateful to be granted the opportunity to raise some of these issues today.

As hon. Members know, there is a crisis in youth services, which have suffered cuts of around £260 million since 2010. There was nothing today in the Chancellor’s autumn statement to cheer up our young people at all. Link that to the ditching of the education maintenance allowance and the access to learning fund, the virtual collapse of careers advice delegated to schools without the necessary resources, and the pittance that local authorities have to pay out from the student opportunity fund, and we can see that young people are getting a very poor deal from this Government.

We are all aware of the spending cuts that local authorities are being forced to make as a result of reduced funding from central Government. That is being felt acutely in areas such as the north-east of England, where 11 out of 12 councils will experience higher than average reductions in spending power for 2014-15, along with a 5% funding reduction compared with 2013-14. To be clear, in pounds per dwelling, that is 10 times higher than cuts in the south-east, and almost four times higher in percentage terms. Across the country, this is devastating service provision and the ability of councils to meet the needs of residents, whether in the form of road maintenance, care and support services for the elderly or the provision of sporting and recreational facilities for the young. Nowhere has been left untouched.

One area particularly hard hit by the attacks on spending is youth services. Despite those services being among the most important that local authorities provide, and ignoring the long-term nature of the impact, levels of provision for young people across the UK have suffered horrendously under the coalition. To be clear from the outset, the Government’s policies have seen young people, just like women, shoulder a disproportionate share of austerity and its worst effects.

Youth services have been hit by funding cuts of £60 million since 2012. Some 73% of local authorities have reported being forced to reduce youth service spending during that time because of central Government cuts, resulting in the loss of hundreds of youth centres and thousands of youth workers across the country. I know that view is recognised by the former children’s Minister, the hon. Member for East Worthing and Shoreham (Tim Loughton), who said:

“Because they don’t have to statutorily provide youth services they”—

the councils—

“have too often been at the top of the queue when cuts come along”.

However, that is just part of a trend that started when the coalition came to power.

Over that longer term, 93% of respondents to a Unison survey said that their local authority had cut youth service spending since 2010, with youth service spending down by £62 million in 2010-11 and £137 million in 2011-12. Overall, that adds up to cuts of £259 million since 2010, with some local authorities having to slash spending by over half to meet their costs.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on securing this afternoon’s debate, and I apologise for the fact that I will not be able to stay for the entire debate. He paints a rather rosier picture, perhaps because he is talking about two or three years ago, than is the case today. My local authority of Trafford is now proposing that we would have no spending on the youth service at all from next year.

[Alex Cunningham]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for that intervention. That is frightful, and as I develop my speech this afternoon, I will refer to some of the consequences of losing youth services altogether.

The Government have established a maze of inefficient and underperforming nationally controlled programmes that duplicate services locally. There are around 40 national schemes and services delivered by 10 different Departments and agencies, leaving councils little, if any, influence to co-ordinate, target and scrutinise the shifting market of publicly funded provision and hindering their ability to plan where best to invest their own support.

Over the summer, I visited one of the schemes, the National Citizen Service, and met some lovely young people. I was impressed by the efforts and intentions, but the fact remains that these schemes have failed to fill the gap that cuts to youth services have created. To make matters worse, the NCS costs £1,200 per head for a six-week volunteering programme, whereas a similar scheme in Germany is able to fund a whole year’s work-based volunteering for the same cost.

[Bill Esterson (Sefton Central) (Lab)]

Like my hon. Friend, I have met the people running the NCS, and I think the work that they do is very good. However, would he agree that one of the big problems with the NCS is that it does not happen week in, week out, all year round? What we really need are youth service workers working with young people every day of the year, because that is where the real difference is and where the real impact is made.

[Alex Cunningham]

My hon. Friend is correct. I will not take anything away from the NCS; I think it is a tremendous and very effective programme. The young people whom I spoke to were really enjoying it and they told me that they were learning tremendous things, but as my hon. Friend said, it does not address year-round provision. It is six weeks, then there is a cliff edge and the provision ends.

The loss of specialist staff and locally tailored services should worry us all in that context. Young people want and need to be able to socialise in a safe and secure environment, but they also need specific professional support in many areas of their life, yet the Government measures forced on local authorities will leave many young people with nowhere to go but street corners. What my hon. Friend the Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green) mentioned is probably an example of that. It does not just risk encouraging antisocial behaviour; more importantly, it will leave young people in very vulnerable situations and potentially victims of who knows what as they spend their time on the streets.

[Paul Blomfield (Sheffield Central) (Lab)]

My hon. Friend is outlining some consequences for socialisation and for the benefits of engaging young people in constructive behaviour. Does he agree—this is on the basis of my discussion with youth workers in Sheffield—that there is an even more significant loss related to youth provision during school holidays, because youth workers have said to me, “Frankly, if people do not engage in these schemes and these schemes are threatened, they will not eat that day”? Is the provision of food within these activities not a serious dimension of this problem that we ought to consider?

[Alex Cunningham]

Most certainly, because a lot of these programmes are aimed specifically at young people from deprived backgrounds who may not have access to the theme parks and holiday experiences that are enjoyed by other young people. It is all the more important that the service provision is there—and that they can eat there. When I went to the NCS in Stockton, they were doing some cooking. I did not care for the famous Parmo pork, with cheese spread over the top, and the pizzas that they made, but they were actually doing something. People said, “It is not very healthy food,” but at least they were eating, and we need to make sure that young people can eat along the way as well.

In many poorer communities, youth clubs and similar facilities are the only service available to young people and provide opportunities to learn new skills and channel their energies productively, but youth centres are so much more than simply a hangout place for young people. Yes, that is one element of the function they serve, and a very welcome one, but well-managed youth centres serve a dual purpose that will now be missed.

That open-access provision is a gateway to early intervention, reaching out to vulnerable youngsters who might otherwise be missed by other services or whose needs might escalate before they are picked up by targeted services. These open-access services are often more appropriate than targeted interventions when it comes to improving outcomes for young people. However, the large numbers of young people at risk of falling through the cracks in provision will not become evident for perhaps five or 10 years, by which time it will be too late.

Stockton-on-Tees borough council, which is responsible for youth services within my constituency, has seen the number of youth centres halved to just 12. That said, through much hard work, I understand that they have succeeded in attracting greater numbers of young people and on a more frequent basis. I take my hat off to them; that is very positive. However, in outlying areas, where provision for young people is generally poorest, the loss of somewhere to go that is close to home is a real problem for communities.

Across the country, the remaining youth provision is provided by youth workers who are thinly spread, overworked and, consequently, less able to fulfil their roles effectively. There is an obvious detriment to the services that they provide and to the young people with whom they work. Although local authorities are limiting the extent of cuts in youth service spending as best they can, that has largely been achieved by reducing the numbers of professional youth workers with the important JNC—Joint Negotiating Committee for Youth and Community Workers—qualification and the skills that come with that.

Again, the context is crucial. In the same two-year period that has seen the number of youth centres dwindle, 2,000 valuable skilled youth workers have been lost from the system. The Unison report highlighted the fact that, as a result, 41,000 youth service places for young people have disappeared, meaning that 35,000 hours of outreach have vanished from youth service provision. That loss is particularly concerning because by building relationships of trust and support with young people, specialist youth workers can actively engage with their communities and help young people to make their own informed decisions about their lives and develop confidence and resilience. In short, youth workers play a central role in supporting young people, yet their years of hard work are being dispensed with and the successes that they have worked hard to achieve are being jeopardised by scything Government cutbacks.

As if that was not bad enough, it has emerged that, as has often been the case under this Government, the impact of the cuts has been felt particularly hard in some of our most deprived communities. In such areas, youth services play an even more significant role: helping young people into work, avoiding and preventing substance abuse and tackling problems of antisocial behaviour and gang violence, as well as boosting community cohesion. However, the effects of austerity have been concentrated in those very communities. The education maintenance allowance has been removed, while support from the access to learning fund and the student opportunity fund has been cut. Housing benefit for the under-25s has been cut, tuition fees have trebled, making higher education more expensive than ever before, and careers services have been slashed. Those cuts are severely short-sighted and will add up to even greater problems as we move forward.

Let us take, for example, the careers service. At a sitting of the Select Committee on Education last week, Lorna Fitzjohn, Ofsted’s national director for further education and skills, reminded MPs that their assessment of the quality of careers advice in schools was that it was less than good in four out of five. It is no wonder: the Government dumped the careers service on schools—I acknowledge that they have the National Careers Service—but did not provide them with the funding that went with the responsibility. They were relying on the national service to offer additional guidance, but few young people have even heard of it.

There are some examples of very good practice, but in most cases, it is left to ill-equipped teachers to cobble something together and, if they have the right contacts, encourage a few employers to come in and chat to the young people. Association of Colleges research indicates that less than half of all colleges have reported that schools in their area are delivering the requirement to provide independent careers advice and guidance. Largely gone are the professional people who had the breadth of knowledge of different opportunities that provided the young with options best suited to their needs.

The Unison survey found that the majority of schools had reduced their careers advice and had no place for careers experts. Research by the university of Derby found that out of 144 local authorities, only 15 would maintain a substantial careers service. Ofsted’s promised review of careers guidance—that particular area of youth services—in 2015-16 cannot come soon enough.

In the current economic climate, which has seen unprecedented levels of youth unemployment and witnessed 1 million young people being out of work, education or training, there can be no doubt about the need for qualified youth workers, who are able to guide our young people into making the right choices for their lives and provide the support necessary for them to enter the work force. We cannot ignore the fact that young people are far more likely to be unemployed than those in older age groups, who are more likely to have experience on their side.

I am fortunate that Stockton borough council is very much a forward-thinking local authority. Its Youth Direction service is therefore geared to provide to young people across the borough a range of resources, including careers advice, business support and an array of targeted youth support projects, but it is the innovation that comes with that proactive provision that is particularly impressive. Working alongside the council’s antisocial behaviour team to carry out joint patrols in Billingham, the Youth Direction service is assisting with the targeting of identified hot spot areas and is actively contributing to reduced instances of antisocial behaviour according to police statistics.

[Bill Esterson]

My hon. Friend uses reducing antisocial behaviour as one of the very good examples of how youth work really does help as an intervention. Youth workers in my area—or former youth workers, to be more accurate, given that they are not employed any more—make the point to me that they are very often the one person in a young person’s life who is trusted and who gives them some kind of contact with authorities through which to address issues, whether it is antisocial behaviour, routes into employment or dealing with life in general. That one person makes all the difference to a young person’s life. They make a fantastic difference between success and failure later on as well.

[Alex Cunningham]

I am sure that that is very much the case, but it is not just about being the one person who may be trusted. I understand that youth workers are trusted more than teachers. Many young people look to a teacher for that sort of daily support and that level of guidance. I also see youth workers as almost being between the young person and the establishment, because they can be a champion for the young person in their community and with the other agencies. The point my hon. Friend raises is very important.

In Stockton, we are also going to have a patrol co-ordinator. The post, which will be advertised on Friday, will build on the work already being undertaken in Stockton and Billingham and will be the first ever joint antisocial behaviour and youth worker post in the country, so at least we are recruiting some youth workers, albeit only the odd one here and there.

Although a report from the National Audit Office concluded that, overall, councils have managed reductions well, 50% are none the less now at financial risk, while cuts to local government funding and services are jeopardising the Government’s professed ambitions for young people. Such an outcome not only is objectionable, but threatens to run counter to the duty on local authorities to secure access to a local offer. Introduced by the last Labour Government, that duty required all local authorities

“so far as reasonably practicable”

to provide all qualifying young people with access to

“sufficient educational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being”.

In March 2012, the coalition confirmed that it would retain the duty and published streamlined guidance to accompany it, but that new guidance does not make clear the Government’s expectations for what a “good” or “sufficient” offer should look like. Instead, the guidance notes that local authorities are responsible for securing, so far as reasonably practicable,

“equality of access for all young people to the positive, preventative and early help they need to improve their well-being.”

Local authorities, however, face an enormous challenge in providing youth services while adapting to the sizeable budget constraints applied from Westminster. The large reduction in overall grant from central Government to local authorities and the cuts to early intervention grants mean that the sector faces a number of challenges. Despite research prepared for the Cabinet Office indicating that cuts to youth services in London were a factor in the riots experienced in the capital and other large cities in August 2011, the Government have refused to protect youth service budgets. Indeed, that report clearly states:

“Where young people described their normal lives as boring and talked about ‘nothing happening around here’, the riots were seen as an exciting event, a day like no other.”

On top of that, numerous young people are quoted as identifying boredom as a key driver of their involvement. With the riots taking place during the school holidays and with many youngsters having literally nothing better to do by way of structured activities, many resorted to joining in. If that point needed driving home, the report also notes that being otherwise occupied, whether through education, work, an apprenticeship or some other activity, was identified as a significant “tug” factor against “nudges” such as boredom.

Despite that alarming connection, statistics from the Local Government Association show that at least eight out of 10 heads of young people’s services said that they had faced more budget cuts since 2012. At the same time, two thirds of voluntary and community organisations providing youth services reported that they, too, had seen their income reduced in the previous 12 months. Although Churches and other voluntary groups have attempted to step into the breach that has been left by Government cuts, many simply do not have the resources to do so sustainably. Perhaps we need to go back to the expression “so far as reasonably practicable”. At least local authorities would be able to say that it is not reasonably practicable to deliver those services because the resources to enable them to do so no longer exist.

Before I ask the Minister some questions, I want to return to my home area. The Stockton youth assembly, known locally as the SYA, has been established to ensure that young people are consulted and their voices heard, and to help the council to work directly with young people to shape local services. The assembly provides a voice for young people aged 11 to 19, or up to 25 if they have a learning difficulty or a disability, and is made up of representatives from a wide range of existing youth voice forums. It holds a formal meeting every other month with an action-packed agenda. In between the formal meetings, the group have opportunities to engage in team building, positive activities and development sessions, which are provided by Youth Direction’s targeted youth support.

I remember well, when I was the chair of the Stockton Children’s Trust board, those same young people putting politicians, council, health, police and other professionals through their paces. They asked difficult questions, tried to force us to justify some of the changes that we were making at the time and encouraged us to do different things. That is the best of practice by a council that has been nominated countless times for council of the year and has, of course, won that award as well. From what I hear from around the country, not every local authority has been able to adapt to that extent to serve their young people—the example from Trafford comes to mind—and it is young people who pay the price for that.

I ask the Minister to carry out his own assessment of the impact of his Government’s cuts to youth services, and to pledge to become a champion for our young people and fight the Treasury for the resources that are required to start healing our youth services. Will he work with the Local Government Association to understand better the pressures it faces in delivering, in many cases, the most basic services for our young people? Will he help to fulfil his role of champion—the one that I have just given him—by better understanding young people’s need for the right advice and services from professional people? Will he further fulfil that role by working across Government to influence, among others, the Education Secretary to sort out the careers service? Equally importantly, will he help to ensure that the whole of Government works for our young people?

This is a well-worn cliché, but I will use it anyway. The young people of today are our future. They are the taxpayers of tomorrow and the people who will look after us. We need to give them more, and we need to give them a better start to help them to prepare for that responsibility.

[Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) (Lab)]

I am grateful for the opportunity to contribute to this debate about a matter that is of huge concern to my constituency following the Trafford council budget proposals made a few weeks ago, which would result in the closure of all of our youth centres around the borough, leaving only the central Talkshop available for young people in Trafford. In a borough that has, as my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) highlighted, some outlying geographical areas and quite high transport costs, it is unlikely that many young people in my constituency would be able to access the central Talkshop.

The concern extends well beyond my constituents, although many of them have written to me about it over the past few weeks. There is considerable pressure on MPs from all over the country to sign a recently tabled early-day motion, and at a recent meeting of the all-party group on poverty, young people challenged MPs from all political parties about the importance of the youth service. They received favourable responses from MPs from all political parties about how we value the youth service, and they told us that, frankly, we do not put our money where our mouth is. It deeply discredits us as politicians when we proclaim our belief in a service but we are unwilling to ensure that it is sustainably maintained and funded. Young people become disillusioned when they see that our promises of investment in them are only words.

In Trafford, we are not only concerned about the loss of youth centres, important though that is—some of them are extremely effective and popular in reaching out to the young people in their neighbourhood; as my hon. Friend said, we are also concerned about the loss of trained youth workers. There will also be a reduction in volunteering opportunities in those youth centres, and I am surprised that a Government who are so keen on volunteering should remove such opportunities, which are much valued in my constituency.

In Trafford, as in other communities, the voluntary sector has traditionally supplied a good proportion of youth provision. I believe that our local authority hopes that that sector will now do much more. Like my hon. Friend, I greatly value the youth work that is done by a range of non-governmental, non-statutory organisations in my borough. The problem is that if we leave such work entirely to voluntary and self-organising youth provision, the offer across the borough will not be strategic. Some areas may be quite well served, but other areas where need is higher may be rather poorly served. There may be some activities that offer lots of opportunities for young people, but other activities that young people want to take part in may not be available in our borough.

My hon. Friend made an important point about sustainability. Voluntary organisations are keen to do what they can to fill the gap in Trafford, but it is a big challenge for them to raise sustainable funding to enable them to make commitments beyond one or two years. For example, Redeeming Our Communities, which has recently begun operating in Partington in my constituency, is keen to look at what more it can do as the youth service in Trafford is degraded, but it has already made the point to me that it can do only as much as it can raise funding for. We must be mindful of the fact that a voluntary sector solution is not sustainable unless there is sustainable funding to allow such organisations to operate.

[Alex Cunningham]

One of the questions that perhaps I should have asked the Minister is whether he will do something to ring-fence and protect youth budgets. Even if Trafford had only a small amount, at least it could work with the voluntary sector to improve its chances of delivering provision in some of the more difficult areas.

[Kate Green]

Certainty would be valuable to those who want to provide youth services. I also make the point to the Minister that the availability of statutory funding has drawn in additional voluntary funding on top of the statutory funding that has hitherto underpinned our service. Lostock youth centre, for example, has been able to raise hundreds of thousands of pounds of voluntary money to top up the statutory support that it receives. Although some of that voluntary money may continue to reach our youth centres, we will lose the basic infrastructure that enables a trained team of youth workers to go out and seek such additional voluntary funding support. Even if voluntary funding were widely available, provision cannot exist in a vacuum, without an underpinning of statutory financial support.

I am concerned that there is a real mismatch between the degrading of our youth services and the other strategic ambitions of local authorities and the Government for our young people: priorities such as reducing crime and antisocial behaviour, making young people feel safe, ensuring their emotional well-being and ensuring that they achieve, attain and have aspirations. In the context of considerable attention being given to the risk of sexual exploitation and abuse, there must be the highest provision in relation to safeguarding, and the youth service hitherto has been an important element of providing such protection to potentially vulnerable young people. As I am sure the Minister will understand, we are deeply concerned about that in the Greater Manchester area. The youth service in Trafford has been actively engaged in that area, and it is well informed about the young people who are at risk. I am concerned that such knowledge and intelligence may be lost.

Everyone recognises the financial pressures that our local authorities are under, but it is very short-sighted simply to slash youth provision. It is poor value for money because it will generate additional costs and pressures in other parts of the system in the years to come. I appreciate that the Minister will say that local authorities must exercise discretion locally and make their own decisions, but he has the opportunity today to offer certainty and stability so that we at least have the capacity for forward planning. I hope he will give us those assurances this afternoon.

[Julie Hilling (Bolton West) (Lab)]

I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) on securing this debate.

I must declare an interest: I am a youth worker. At least, when I had a proper job before I came to this place I spent almost all my professional life as a youth and community worker, working with young people in communities. A few of us in this place and a few more in the other place were youth and community workers, and we are all in absolute despair at what is happening to our services. I also chair the all-party group on youth affairs, so I try to keep my feet on the ground, although the situation is moving incredibly fast at the moment. Unfortunately, it is not changing for the better; services are being destroyed up and down the country—I will talk a little more about that later.

Let me start with something the Chancellor said in his autumn statement a few minutes ago:

“We have shown in this Parliament that we can deliver spending reductions without damaging front-line public services”.

I wish he were part of this debate so he could see how those budget cuts have totally destroyed front-line services —the youth service in particular.

Let me take hon. Members back to the start of the system. There was an early youth service at the end of the 19th century, when a number of voluntary organisations were set up to work with young people—in particular, those who faced difficulties in the streets and those who worked in the mills, in service and in other places. There were cuts to those services as the years went on, particularly in the 1950s. In 1958, Lady Albemarle produced a report that became the foundation of the modern youth service. The Education Act 1944 provided a statutory basis for the youth service. If hon. Members wonder why I am talking about 1958 and 1944, it is because we always link Acts backwards, and the Education and Inspections Act 2006 contains references to the 1944 Act—I was always confused about that. The 1944 Act set out that local authorities should procure a sufficient youth service.

Sadly, under the previous Tory Government in the 90s, our youth services started disappearing at a rate of knots. I always used to think that perhaps one day I would not be a youth worker, but I never thought that there would be an end of the youth service. In the 1990s, although I still wanted to be a youth worker, there were nearly no jobs left.

The previous Labour Government strengthened the legislation. Unfortunately, some of the first words in the 2006 Act are:

“must, so far as reasonably practicable”.

That is something I hope an incoming Labour Government will sort out. I plead with the Minister to talk to local authorities about what is “reasonably practicable”. If it is reasonably practicable for a local authority to provide library services, education and other services, surely it should still be providing youth services.

The 2006 Act called on local authorities to secure for qualifying young persons in the local authority area—13 to 19-year-olds and people with learning difficulties up to the age of 25—

“sufficient educational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities; and...sufficient recreational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their well-being, and sufficient facilities for such activities”.

It states that

“ ‘sufficient educational leisure-time activities’ which are for the improvement of the well-being of qualifying young persons in the authority’s area must include sufficient educational leisure-time activities which are for the improvement of their personal and social development.”

That was later defined to mean youth work.

The Act set out two forms of activity. Educational leisure-time activity aids young people’s social and personal development, and includes activities delivered by youth workers. Recreational leisure-time activities can include provision by youth workers, but it also includes sport, informal physical activities and cultural activities such as music, performing arts and visual arts.

The Government did not totally abandon that commitment. In a policy document on youth services, they reiterated:

“It is…local authorities’ duty to secure, so far as reasonably practicable, equality of access for all young people to the positive, preventative and early help they need to improve their well-being. This includes youth work and other services and activities that:…Connect young people with their communities, enabling them to belong and contribute to society, including through volunteering, and supporting them to have a voice in decisions which affect their lives;…offer young people opportunities in safe environments to take part in a wide range of sports, arts, music and other activities, through which they can develop a strong sense of belonging, socialise safely with their peers, enjoy social mixing, experience spending time with older people, and develop relationships with adults they trust;…support the personal and social development of young people through which they build the capabilities they need for learning, work, and the transition to adulthood…improve young people’s physical and mental health and emotional well-being;…help those young people at risk of dropping out…raise young people’s aspirations, build their resilience, and inform their decisions—and thereby reducing teenage pregnancy, risky behaviours such as substance misuse, and involvement in crime and anti-social behaviour.”

Sadly, the Government, through their devastating cuts, have failed absolutely to enable young people to access those services.

The previous Government’s document “Resourcing excellent youth services” states:

“the purpose of the work must be predominantly that of achieving outcomes related to young people’s personal and social development (as distinct from, say, their academic or vocational learning);…the methods of the work include the extensive use of experiential learning and of small groups (as distinct from, say, a prescribed curriculum and whole-class teaching or individual casework);…the values of the work include the voluntary engagement of young people with skilled adults. This relationship transforms what is possible for young people.”

[Alex Cunningham]

My hon. Friend is talking about how the youth service and youth workers have a very different role to play in supporting young people today. In schools today, there is tremendous pressure on young people. They have got to have their heads down, the curriculum is very tight and they must concentrate on academic subjects. That is all the more reason why they need somebody outside that environment to help them develop in other ways.

[Julie Hilling]

I agree. Anybody who has worked with young people knows that if their heads are not in the right place, they cannot learn. I used to manage a project for looked-after young people, who were put in small groups with qualitative professional workers to work through their issues. Sticking them in a classroom and trying to stuff their heads full of facts was not working. The facts were being kept out by the mess in their lives—they did not know what was going on in their lives and they did not have good relationships with adults. Providing that space did more than allow those young people to be themselves; it enabled them to learn, participate, take part, get ready for work and take up their role in the world. It fulfilled an important part of those young people’s development.

I shall quote from Choose Youth, an organisation that shows that the Government have done something right. They have brought together all the practitioners in the voluntary and statutory sectors in youth work—that was unknown in the past—in an organisation that seeks to defend and promote youth work. Choose Youth says:

“What is youth work and why is it important?...Youth work as a professional educational practice uniquely inspires, educates, empowers, takes the side of young people and amplifies their voice. Unlike other interventions with young people it combines these elements in a relationship that young people freely choose to make with their youth workers. From this relationship a curriculum of learning and activities is developed that build on the positive and enhance social and personal education.”

Youth work is sometimes a place, such as a centre. Sometimes it takes place on the streets, sometimes in projects—in arts or sports projects in a variety of settings. What is unique, however, is that it is, first, an informal relationship that young people can choose to be part of—they do not have to be part of it. Secondly, the relationship is based on their terms; the youth worker tries to find out what young people actually want and need, rather than what the youth worker, as an adult, thinks they want and need. There is, therefore, a voluntary relationship and the ability for young people to develop and to choose their own curriculum.

As a youth worker—I apologise to all the young people I worked with over the years for this—I never had a conversation that was truly about what they thought about “Brookside” the night before or what they did the weekend before, because all those conversations were fundamental starting points for exploring other issues. We would use soaps to talk about date rape, and we would use things that were going on to talk about drugs, sex or relationships. Yes, we would teach young people about condoms and how to have positive sexual relationships, but there was a whole mix when it came to working with young people.

--- Later in debate ---

[Julie Hilling]

That is always hard to quantify, but the issue is important. Over the past few years, people have looked for integrated services, which is the right thing to do, but they have then tried to combine them in one role. Social workers working with young people in care have a vital role, but that adult who befriends young people and works with them on their terms, and who does not have to make sure that they are home by 9 o’clock at night, they have done their homework or they have eaten their greens, is also vital.

My hon. Friend is right that the cost of young people who enter the penal system is enormous, and I will come to the figures in a moment. We are spending about £100 per year per young person on youth work, compared with the hundreds of thousands of pounds we spend to keep people in the penal system because we could not spend a pittance on them before. It is estimated that if we spent £350 per year per young person, that would fund the proper youth service we are talking about.

Another issue the Government have led us to is working just with the young people who are most in need—those who are not in education, employment or training. Of course we need to work with those people, but the more cuts we make to the service that gathers most young people, the more people will fall to the bottom of the net and need a more specialist service to get them out. The youth service is a good vehicle for enabling all young people to have that same positive relationship.

Let us talk about some of the cuts. In 2010, Sheffield had 41 youth clubs; in 2013, that was down to 23. Since 2013, of course, there have been further cuts, and those cuts are continuing. In the north-west, Manchester disestablished its youth service. It is still putting £1.3 million into the voluntary sector, but that is now up for grabs, and it is likely to disappear. Oldham is getting rid of everything apart from one myplace centre. In Trafford, all provision is on the table to go completely, although a housing association might pick some up. In St Helens, there is a 77% cut, and it now has only 28 hours of delivery at the most.

In Lancashire, half the budget has gone, and it is now looking at further cuts. In Tameside, the budget is almost gone. In Stockport, it is gone. Sefton faces huge cuts. In Liverpool, the budget is gone. Bolton faces massive cuts. Wigan now faces an 80% cut. Cheshire West now has four professional youth workers—I am sure they know individually every one of the young people they are supposed to be working with. The one little bit of success is in Knowsley, where youth workers and young people have set up a project together and are running the services.

The picture across the country is devastating. The smallest cut is 50%. A lot of areas have cuts of 75%. Now, particularly in the period going forward, a lot of areas are cutting budgets completely. These authorities have a statutory duty to provide a service, and I will come back to that in a minute.

We are losing the professional expertise and the co-ordination across the piece. Even when there is money to go into the voluntary sector, there is nobody there to co-ordinate that spend. Indeed, I was told yesterday of a local authority that is now looking to the regional youth service unit to provide it with some infrastructure, because the local authority’s infrastructure has completely disappeared.

It is now difficult to ascertain what is left of many services. Some are youth and play, while some are just youth support services. The whole designated youth service budget has gone completely. What saved the Wigan youth service in the late ’80s was the fact that the local authority had to spend a percentage of its education budget on the youth service. We had a great influx of money, and we doubled the number of youth workers. Legislation is important, and it should be implemented.

If we ask people in a neighbourhood what they want, they say they want youth centres for young people to go to. They do not want young people hanging around on street corners with nothing to do; they want them to have positive relationships. In that respect, early-day motion 488 now has more than 100 signatures, and 38 Degrees—I agree with this 38 Degrees petition—is encouraging people to sign a petition.

One of the Minister’s predecessors did a survey of local authorities’ youth service spending. As far as I am aware, it has never come to light. Can the Minister enlighten us about what happened to it, or whether it exists? Certainly, Unison did freedom of information requests on some local authorities and discovered that at least 2,000 jobs had gone. Given that there were only 7,000 in the first place, that is an enormous percentage. Some 350 youth centres closed and 41,000 youth services places were lost. As has been mentioned, a place in the criminal justice system costs £200,000 per annum.

I quote again from the Choose Youth manifesto:

“Youth work contributes significantly to early intervention and preventative services thereby reducing the incidence of young people in need of highly targeted intensive and expensive services later on.

For example, the Audit Commission report into the benefits of sport and leisure activities in preventing anti-social behaviour by young people estimates that a young person in the criminal justice system costs the taxpayer over £200,000 by the age of 16. But one who is given support to stay out costs less than £50,000. Other comparative costs include: £1,300 per person for an electronically monitored curfew order. £35,000 per year to keep one young person in a young offender institution. £9,000 for the average resettlement package per young person after custody.”

Youth work is a cheap, efficient alternative to all those other intervention measures. The National Youth Agency used to be paid to collate a survey of spending on local authorities. It can no longer do that work because it is no longer paid to do it.

The youth service profession are qualified workers, not just people who turn up on a Friday night and decide that they will play with young people. A youth work qualification is equivalent to a teaching qualification. The qualification and training are as rigorous as those for other caring professions such as social work and teaching. Youth work is now a degree profession and youth workers are highly trained and qualified. They support volunteers in their work. For every pound spent, £8 comes back in action by volunteers. The work is cost-effective in all sorts of ways, but it is about professional service. Most of us would not want an unqualified teacher to be standing in front of a class and teaching. Most of us would not want an unqualified doctor to treat us or an unqualified nurse to deal with us. Why then should we accept unqualified youth workers working with young people?

[Alex Cunningham]

I am delighted that my hon. Friend is paying tribute to youth workers and their professionalism, in what is now a degree-entry profession. They do tremendous work, and for so little pay; it is not a well rewarded profession financially, although it is in other ways. Could my hon. Friend recommend it as a career choice in the current environment?

[Julie Hilling]

My hon. Friend makes an interesting point. I went to Huddersfield to talk to a group of students a couple of weeks ago, and asked them much the same question. They are still as dedicated and committed, and they may well get jobs, but not as youth workers, because the skills of youth workers and the methodology of youth work are wanted by many other professions. Really, however, we should hope that they can employ their core skills in working with young people.

Finally—I recognise I have gone on for rather a long time—it is a false economy to remove youth services, and to work with young people only when they are already in trouble or at risk of getting into trouble. The Minister needs to make local authorities live up to their statutory duties, and not just ignore the legislation that says there is a statutory basis for the youth service. Of course that needs strengthening and I hope that the next Labour Government will strengthen it. We have seen how easily an incoming Government can water down regulation. However, there is regulation and legislation. The Government should live up to their promise to young people and enforce the legislation to make sure that we have a sufficient youth service in every area of the country.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Percy]

I am open to debate on that. I do not have a particularly strong view one way or the other. Provision for young people is something that local authorities should just want to make, because it is part of their core function. If we have local democracy those decisions should be for local councillors, and if they do not choose to provide those services local people have the option of throwing them out. Young people can play an important role in that if more of them vote. I always say to young people that the reason they do not have a free bus pas when pensioners do can be seen from the turnout figures.

I have been painting a rosy picture up to now.

[Alex Cunningham]

rose—

[Andrew Percy]

I will give way to the hon. Gentleman. It is his debate, after all.

[Alex Cunningham]

If the hon. Gentleman is not in favour of youth services becoming a statutory responsibility of local authorities, does he accept that perhaps we need to make sure there is specific funding—an increase first, and then specific ring-fenced funding for the delivery of youth services in local authority areas?

[Andrew Percy]

I am always wary, Mr Davies—and as a fellow Yorkshireman I should have mentioned that it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship—of this place telling local authorities what they should or should not spend their budget on. I remember the Connexions budget, which was ring-fenced to local councils. It was ring-fenced funding for a couple of years, at which point it simply passed into the revenue budget of local authorities. The extra funding we got for Connexions, which we had to spend on it in the first year or two when it came from central Government, did not continue because it became part of our main revenue budget.

[Alex Cunningham]

I chaired a Connexions company across the whole of the Tees valley. That was not money vested in the local authority; it was vested in the Connexions company, which was there to deliver, and it had no other option but to spend the money on direct services.

[Andrew Percy]

I do not know what the situation was, but I remember in the city of Hull, when we had it, although there was pump-priming from central Government we eventually ended up picking up some of the expenditure on Connexions. [Interruption.] I will have to. If the hon. Gentleman wants to contact me afterwards we can try to sort it out. I was on the council for 10 years. There are many things I remember well and some I choose to forget. This is one that I remember; we debated it in the council chamber. I will happily be corrected afterwards.

On the hon. Gentleman’s broader point about whether we should be mandating how local councils spend their money, there are countless examples. Connexions may be an example of where that happened after funding was made available by the previous Government. Bus passes are another example of where local authorities got some money and were told that they had to provide something. The money from central Government disappears off and local authorities ended up having to absorb it in their revenue budget. My answer to his question is that I would be nervous. It is something that local authorities should choose to provide, and if they do not provide it, they can be held accountable at the next election.

--- Later in debate ---

[Andrew Percy]

I will not rehearse with the hon. Gentleman the reason why there are spending reductions for local government, which would have been implemented by whoever was in power. Let us not pretend that there is some sort of alternative nirvana in which local government budgets would be increasing. Regardless of who won the 2010 election, local government budgets would be reducing, so let us nail that myth.

I am rapidly trying to remember the hon. Gentleman’s question, which was on whether there is value in investment. I think there is value, but it can be provided in a number of ways. Indeed, who is providing such bespoke support, particularly to at-risk young people, varies between localities. There is no doubt, because the evidence is very clear, that if we intervene early on young people who are at risk of following certain pathways, we can prevent those outcomes—that is what we all want. I broadly agree with him, although how we provide it should not be mandated in one particular way.

That brings me neatly to North Lincolnshire council. We went through a painful process, because following the “Positive for Youth” Government guidance in July 2012, the local authority decided to consult young people on how it should provide its youth services. In so doing, the local authority spoke to 2,000 young people, who told us that the service they had been offered, which in many ways had not changed since the old Humberside youth service of 40 years earlier, was not necessarily delivering what they wanted it to deliver. That became controversial. Some youth workers did not like it, because different providers were brought in. Indeed, in the initial proposals there was a gap between what would happen to the core, traditional youth worker roles and the new provision. Questions were asked about whether we would lose something. Eventually, the local authority came to the sensible position of retaining a number of fully qualified youth workers in an outreach role across localities, and a range of other provisions was provided across various localities with an increased budget of £194,000, which is not insignificant for a small authority.

Young people told us that they did not necessarily want everything to be sport-related, which often happens with youth services and youth provision in the broader sense. People often think, “We’ll just put goalposts up and give kids a football, because that’s what they really want.” But that is not what a lot of young people want, so street dance is now being provided by a brilliant organisation called Street Beat. We have Grasp the Nettle, and we even have cooking classes. Of course, street sport is provided throughout the summer months, and indoor sports are provided in the winter months.

We have been able to base those activities in 20 centres across North Lincolnshire, including all the existing youth centres, which the council decided to retain and, in some cases, improve—the youth centre in Broughton in my constituency will shortly be moving. We now have new providers offering a range of services, including the Duke of Edinburgh award programme, in a number of new centres. There are new operators in places such as Winterton, Brigg, Epworth and Crowle. Attendance in Broughton has increased by 63% since youth services were provided in this different way, which was controversial in many respects, but the figures speak for themselves.

The local authority also talked to disabled young people about what they wanted. The responses were very interesting, because they wanted bespoke services for disabled young people to be part of the mix, but they wanted mainstream provision to apply to them, too. I pay tribute to Scunthorpe United, which does a great job of providing disabled youth services. I also pay tribute to Daisy Lincs, which is a great local charity headed by Julie Reed from Crowle. Daisy Lincs does a brilliant job with disabled young people.

I will now describe where we are at in my area and across North Lincolnshire. Before the changes, we used to have three sessions a week in Winterton; we now have five. We used to have eight sessions in Brigg; we now have nine. On the Isle of Axholme, which I represent, we used to have three sessions; we now have nine. The number of sessions increased by 49.5% between 2012-13 and 2013-14, and the attendances speak for themselves. There were 31,215 attendances in 2013-14 compared with 22,800 in 2012-13, so providing services in a different way and delivering them with extra funding has made a real difference. The biggest thing we found was that 85% to 90% of young people simply did not engage with the old youth service provision, which was working very well for a certain group of young people, but it was not working more broadly. It could be argued that some of the new provision, because it is based around themes such as street theatre, may not be picking up some of the important issues that the hon. Member for Bolton West so eloquently outlined. That is why outreach services are being retained.

We know that the picture is painful for many local authorities, but in North Lincolnshire, by putting in that extra money and providing services in a different way, based on what young people told us they want—there were some protests from youth workers—we have been able to deliver a positive change.

[Alex Cunningham]

The hon. Gentleman is giving the same message that Opposition Members would give. If more resources are put into the service, and if the service is modernised, better services can be delivered for more young people. Surely that is the message: we need more resources for youth work.

[Andrew Percy]

Local authorities may simply provide what they already spend, but we took the decision to reverse the cuts of the previous council administration. We put new money in, but we provided the services in a different way. If I had one criticism of my time as a local councillor and of my time working in this process, it is that some of those closest to the service do not necessarily always understand how society and young people have changed and how the provision needs to alter too. In my profession as a teacher, the pastoral support offered to young people now is very different from the support that was provided to young people even—when did I go to school?—10 or 20 years ago. The provision is very different, so schools pick up some of it, and there are other services, too. Nothing can exist in stasis. Money may be part of the answer, but we can do things differently. We can get positive outcomes even with a declining budget, which my other local authority faces because it made different decisions. The general message is that provision for young people is vital.

[Alex Cunningham]

It is not statutory.

[Andrew Percy]

I have already explained the answers to that one. I apologise once again for being late and will end there.

--- Later in debate ---

[Lisa Nandy]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right to highlight that, and it is one of the reasons why I congratulated my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North for situating this debate in the wider context of what is happening to young people. Transport costs are the key thing that young people always raise with me and, I am sure, many other Members, and it is important that we think about that when we consider services for young people.

There are some other startling examples of local authorities doing something really exciting. The hon. Member for Brigg and Goole is right to acknowledge the impact that the cuts have had but also to say that this is not just about funding. For example, I think that many Members will be aware of a project in Lambeth that I have heard about and seen for myself. Lambeth took the huge amounts that it was spending on young people through various budgets and put it into a trust, which anyone in the community over the age of 12 could join. It was weighted towards young people, so that they retained control, and it gave the community the power to take real decisions about how services were commissioned and delivered and what they looked like. My understanding is that that project has been a remarkable success. It points to a key feature of successful youth services; the most successful ones are those that involve young people in commissioning, designing and delivering them, where possible.

However, we know from our experience of looking at youth services that what works in Lambeth does not necessarily work in Liverpool. That is why I have said that there needs to be a clear minimum offer from this Government. Labour is clearly committed to that, but not to prescription about on how it should be delivered. Labour Members have previously said that we are open to strengthening the statutory duty to provide youth services, and I have listened carefully to the contributions by hon. Members on that point, but I think we must recognise that, on its own, a statutory duty is not enough. As my hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West said, we already have a statutory duty, limited though it is, and it is not being fulfilled around the country. Labour is very attracted by the possibility of introducing a duty to ensure that young people are involved from the outset in designing and commissioning youth services, and we wonder whether the Minister might share that aspiration; if he does, perhaps he will say something about it today.

There is also a clear need to ensure that young people can hold the people who make these decisions to account. That is one of the reasons why Labour is committed to introducing votes at 16. I hope that the Minister will listen to that argument and consider carefully how young people can hold their elected politicians to account for their decisions if they do not have the vote.

I should also mention briefly concerns about the work force. I want to be fair to the Minister, so I will say that some of the problems in the youth service work force predate the coalition. In 2008, a survey by the National Youth Agency found that a third of councils were not investing at all in the professional development of youth workers. That was really worrying then, but I dread to think what the figure is now, several years after the huge cuts that we have had. Can the Minister tell us? There is a real risk that we will run down the quality of our services and then turn around and say to young people that those services are not worth saving in any case.

There is no question that the last four years have been absolutely horrendous for this sector, and I do not want to lose sight of that. We have lost good, skilled staff, and many more are under significant strain, dealing with low pay, job insecurity and the prospect of redundancies. This really matters, because as my hon. Friends the Members for Sefton Central (Bill Esterson) and for Stockton North said, behind the loss of all those youth workers—2,000 of them during the last few years—is a story of broken relationships. I once worked with a young person who had grown up in and out of care. He was 18 when I first came across him and he told me that the only consistent adult in his life since he was 11 had been his youth worker. When we lose good, skilled staff, we break that link and that bond, and the damage is irreparable.

Regarding the National Citizen Service, I say to the Minister that although I support many of the things that my hon. Friends have said, and I myself have also had a parmo with some of the young people from Redcar who have taken part in NCS, it is no substitute for long-term, ongoing youth services provided all year round. It is a short-term intervention and it is very expensive. If we come to power in May next year, we are not planning to make the same mistake that this Government did with the v scheme, and simply tear something up because another party has established it, but we are very concerned about the cost of NCS. My hon. Friend the Member for Stockton North drew a parallel between the amount of money that the German Federal Government spend on year-round youth work and the money that this Government spend on short-term interventions.

The other thing to say is that young people spend 85% of their time out of school, yet each year local authorities spend 55 times more on formal education than they do on providing services for young people outside the school day. We need to get a bit of a grip on this, because when this Government agreed to protect ring-fencing for school funding they did not do the same for additional activities. They abolished ring-fenced grants for—

[Alex Cunningham]

Will my hon. Friend give way?

[Lisa Nandy]

If my hon. Friend does not mind, I will not give way, as I have only a couple of minutes left and I wanted to make some last points.

As I was saying, the Government abolished the ring-fenced grants for additional activities. They inherited spending of £350 million per year on those activities, which equated to about £77 per young person aged between 13 and 19. A previous Minister responsible for this area said that that equated to

“large slugs of public money”.

I hope that the current Minister will take the opportunity to reject that view and tell us that he thinks young people are worth at least £77 of our money per head.

Over the past four years, Ministers have passed on responsibility to the very same local authorities that they are hammering with budget cuts. Frankly there was only ever going to be one result, because at the same time the money that helped to sustain youth services was put into an early intervention grant, which was also used to fund Sure Starts and services dealing with teen pregnancy, substance misuse and mental health, before being cut again by up to 40%. I say to the Minister: what sort of message does that send to young people about our commitment to them? If my hon. Friend the former Member for Wythenshawe and Sale East were here, he would say that this approach is so short-sighted, particularly given all the issues about child protection and children in the criminal justice system that we have discussed.

I also wanted to say to the Minister that some local authorities have cut way beyond the average. Have he or any of his colleagues ever considered using the powers that they have under the Education Act 2006 to intervene where they see youth services being cut disproportionately and the statutory duty that exists in that Act not being met?

In 2011, the Minister’s predecessor as Minister for Civil Society said,

“we are working with our strategic partners to gather information about what is happening on the ground”.

Has that happened and has it been published? What discussions has he had with local authorities?

This is not simply a question of money; it is about priorities. My hon. Friend the Member for Bolton West said, quite rightly, that the emergence of a significant youth service can be traced back to post-world war two and “In the Service of Youth”. It was a time when the country was facing the most significant financial challenge in its history. This is not just a question of what we say to our young people; it is about what sort of country we want to be. Do we want to be forward-looking, confident, ambitious and invest in our young people, their talent and energy, or do we want to watch the sad disintegration of the services that they rely on over the next few years? I know what our answer is.

[The Minister for Civil Society (Mr Rob Wilson)]

With your toleration, Mr Davies, may I begin in a slightly unusual way by congratulating the hon. Member for Wigan (Lisa Nandy) on her recent news that she will be adding to the youth of the nation? I hope that she will be declaring a personal interest from now on. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Stockton North (Alex Cunningham) on securing an important debate and I thank all hon. Members who have contributed. It has been a useful airing of views.

My first response to the debate is that I know these have been tough times. On today of all days, I recognise that the funding situation remains tight across the public sector, even though this Government have successfully cut the deficit in half. Local councils have had some difficult decisions to make across all the services that they provide and this has had a knock-on effect on wider youth services. Having said that, I was slightly concerned during some contributions, because we should always remember to talk about young people in a positive way. We should be emphasising strengths among our young people, not negatives.

I was pleased to hear my hon. Friend the Member for Brigg and Goole (Andrew Percy) say that 20 centres are being established in his area and that those are doing things in a different, but very positive, way. The hon. Member for Stockton North mentioned some positive things that Stockton council is doing. I congratulate it on raising attendance at some of its centres and on its engagement in the youth services area.

I was sorry to hear that the council in the constituency of the hon. Member for Stretford and Urmston (Kate Green), who has had to leave, is taking the option of abandoning youth centres, but at the end of the day that is a choice, not a necessity.

[Alex Cunningham]

Will the Minister give way?

[Mr Wilson]

I will make some progress and then I will come back to the hon. Gentleman.

I have been Minister for Civil Society for just over two months and have seen the important and difficult work done by youth workers and so many others with young people. These individuals are making a vital contribution to realising the Government’s ambition to ensure that all young people have the opportunities needed to fulfil their potential—an ambition I am sure we all agree with.

Only last month on a visit to Stockton, I met Five Lamps, an organisation in the constituency neighbouring the hon. Gentleman’s. This award-winning social enterprise is working with young people in the town. Five Lamps works with nearly 25,000 people every year through programmes including youth services and work with those who are not in education, employment or training. It was inspiring to see how it transforms lives and raises aspirations in Stockton. Five Lamps is a fine example of the type of support that is available at the local level, and hon. Members would do well to commend such work in their own constituencies. I am a huge supporter of these types of local services. I am also committed to bringing national and local government together, along with civil society and businesses, to give young people the best possible opportunities to succeed, and I will set out the Government’s current work to achieve this.

At local level, this Government have retained the existing statutory duty for local authorities, which requires that they secure, as far as is practicable, sufficient services and activities to improve the well-being of young people, as outlined in section 507B of the Education and Inspections Act 2006. Not only did we retain the duty, but we updated the guidance on it in June 2012.

Hon. Members will have seen early-day motion 488, tabled by a Labour Member—some have mentioned it —in favour of a statutory funded service with ring-fenced funding from central Government. I have considered the issues, but do not support the EDM. I believe that effective local youth services are already supported by the existing statutory duty. I also believe that local authorities should be empowered to decide how to secure services that meet the needs of young people in their communities with the resources available to them. It cannot be the role of central Government to dictate to them what services to deliver or to ring-fence funding for this purpose. I am not clear from comments by the shadow Minister whether Labour now proposes to ring-fence these budgets.

[Mr Wilson]

The hon. Lady has to recognise that the principles of localism cannot simply be overridden the first time anyone disagrees with a decision that is made. If we are serious about localism—I am—we have to trust and respect local choices, and if necessary provide support to encourage new ways of thinking about how services are delivered.

[Alex Cunningham]

rose—

[Mr Wilson]

I will make a bit more progress, if I may.

I support transformational change that results in services that are more responsive to the needs of people using them and more efficient and resilient. We know that innovation is possible and that there are new models for delivering youth services that get the most out of the best of the voluntary and private sectors. Gloucestershire county council is one example. Its targeted youth support service is now provided through a partnership between a private sector organisation, Prospects, and the county council. It works with nearly 6,000 vulnerable young people in the county, more than 90% of whom say it has made a difference to their lives. Nationally, the Government want to provide practical support so that others can follow its lead. Through the “Delivering Differently for Young People” programme, we are supporting 10 local authorities to do so and to explore new models of delivery. I heard what the hon. Member for Stockton North said about his own local authority and its initiatives and I will look at those more closely.

If the hon. Gentleman would like an example of what is possible in his region, he could look north to North Tyneside, one of the councils we are supporting through the “Delivering Differently for Young People” programme. Its vision is to deliver joined-up services for young people that bring the public and voluntary sectors together to make the most of skills, buildings and resources. At every step, this will involve young people and will focus on tackling the needs of young people in a way that is co-ordinated and comprehensive. We will provide short-term specialist support to plan how they implement this vision. Gloucestershire and North Tyneside councils are just two of many positive examples of how councils are looking for new and creative opportunities to bring people together, create partnerships and look at new funding streams.

To answer the hon. Gentleman’s question, my officials are working closely with the Local Government Association, which is a co-sponsor of the “Delivering Differently for Young People” programme.

[Alex Cunningham]

The Minister is giving examples of good practice. We all love such examples and we know it is happening in parts of the country, but in other parts of the country the service is disappearing—we have heard an example today—so what is he going to do about that?

[Mr Wilson]

At a national level, the Government are going further. We are supporting leading youth organisations to develop the centre for youth impact. For the first time in this country there will be a central point for information, guidance and bespoke support, to demonstrate the value of youth services to others, particularly those who make funding decisions—something a Labour Government never did. Again, to answer another of the hon. Gentleman’s questions, the Cabinet Office did a survey of youth services in November 2013, which has informed the actions that I am talking about today.

Moving away from local youth services, I know that the hon. Gentleman has a particular interest in engaging young people in the democratic process. I share his commitment and will speak about the Government’s work in this area. Last month I had the privilege of speaking to the UK Youth Parliament and saw young people at their best: informed, articulate and passionate. They debated with eloquence and conviction about issues that matter to them, such as mental health and a living wage for all. We must make sure this same powerful voice shapes the services they use, locally and nationally. Engaging and listening is a way of ensuring our policies and services meet their actual needs. The Government are also ensuring social action opportunities exist outside school and college for young people to develop the skills and confidence they require to transition into adulthood.

Unfortunately, I am not going to make it to the end of my speech, so I will leave it there, Mr. Davies.

Industrial Action Update

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Thursday 10th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

My hon. Friend draws out a really important point, which is that since the recession pay in the public sector has risen by more than it has in the private sector. The comparators show that average pay in the public sector is higher than in the private sector. I know that there are people on low pay in the public sector, as there are in the private sector, but the fact is that, given the appalling legacy that the outgoing Labour Government left the coalition Government, there have been tough decisions to be made and many people have had to make sacrifices along the way.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

More than 1,000 jobs have gone from Stockton borough alone since this Government came to power, and the value of public sector pay, including for some of the lowest-paid part-time workers in our communities, has gone down by about 20% since 2010. Just 1% of £6,000, which is what many of those people are paid, would buy a loaf of bread each week for a year. If the Government can afford to give millionaires a tax cut worth many times more than public sector workers get paid in a year, why can they not find a way better to reward the people who clean the streets, empty the bins and look after our most vulnerable people?

[Mr Maude]

I hear what the hon. Gentleman says. In his own area, many jobs have been created in the private sector, and the local growth initiatives that my right hon. and hon. Friends launched earlier this week will bring even more jobs there.

[Alex Cunningham]

In the north-east, unemployment is going up.

[Mr Maude]

I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that, for every increase in public sector pay, there is a price to be paid in lost jobs.

Local Growth Deals

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 7th July 2014 Commons Chamber

[Greg Clark]

My hon. Friend is absolutely right. He is a doughty campaigner for his constituency, and I have visited him and his colleagues on the Humber many times. He is one of the people who have been instrumental in forging a consensus between the north bank and the south bank of the Humber. Now that that consensus exists, the Humber is motoring; we can see the progress and momentum behind the economy there. He has played his part in that, and I congratulate him on it.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

The Minister is a South Bank lad, so he should have some understanding of the challenges faced in the Tees valley. His statement tells of helping to create 1,000 jobs by 2021—in other words, 1,000 jobs in seven years. That is less than 20% of the total number of unemployed people in Stockton, one of five boroughs in the Tees valley. Why has he not come up with something more substantial from the Government in terms of investment for his former community?

[Greg Clark]

The jobs figures that the hon. Gentleman cites are for the first year’s investment only. We have taken a conservative view. The Government do not create jobs directly; it is up to businesses to create jobs. The business community in the Tees valley, very ably led by Sandy Anderson, have come forward with a set of proposals that they believe will propel the Tees valley forward, and we have been able to say yes to them.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 14th May 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

My hon. Friend is right. In Stevenage, unemployment has fallen by 24% over the past year, which shows that our long-term economic plan is working. Every single one of those people is not just a statistic, but someone who has the dignity, security and peace of mind of a pay packet to help them and their family. Increasing the number of apprenticeships is a vital part of our long-term economic plan. We have seen 1.7 million new apprentices under this Government and are aiming for 2 million. We need to do more to encourage small and medium-sized firms to take on apprentices, but the work is going well.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q4. There has been a 61% increase in the number of working families claiming housing benefit in the Stockton borough. Is that not further proof that the jobs that the Prime Minister claims to have created are generally low-paid, part-time and zero-hours contract jobs that do not pay enough to meet the rent?

[The Prime Minister]

In the Stockton North constituency, unemployment has fallen by 23% over the past year. If the hon. Gentleman looks at the unemployment figures, he will see that the number of people in part-time work who want full-time work has fallen as, increasingly, people are able to find the full-time work that they want. Of course there is an increase in the number of people who are in work and claiming housing benefit, because there is an increase in the number of people in work. That is what is happening in our country—we are getting the country back to work.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 30th April 2014 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I thank my hon. Friend for that beautifully and brilliantly crafted question about the anniversary of Shakespeare’s birth. It is a moment of celebration not just here in Britain but across the world, where Shakespeare’s works are gaining a wider understanding and distribution. I will not attempt quotes such as those that my hon. Friend brought out in his question, but I would say to any politician that if they read Henry V’s speech before Agincourt and it does not inspire them and drive them on, I cannot think what will.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q4. When will the Prime Minister publish the regulations to introduce standard packaging for tobacco products and ban smoking in cars when children are present?

[The Prime Minister]

I cannot pre-judge the Queen’s Speech, but we have said that we want to take action on this front and we will.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 20th November 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am grateful to my hon. Friend for raising this issue. The Government strongly support credit unions and think them a big part of the answer to the problems of payday lending. We have invested £38 million in credit unions and want to see them expand. Also, for the first time, we are properly regulating payday lending through the new regulator and are prepared to consider all the steps that can be taken to sort out this problem.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q5. Today is universal children’s day, and the Prime Minister will be aware that Save the Children has highlighted the importance of early years in children’s development. Does he accept that the closure of three Sure Start centres a week is undermining the life chances of countless needy children?

[The Prime Minister]

I would challenge the hon. Gentleman’s figures. Whereas the pot of money for children’s centres was £2.3 billion in 2012-13, it is going up to £2.5 billion in 2014-15; there are 3,000 children’s centres open; and as I said, only about 1% have closed, so I think the Government have an excellent record on this front.

Oral Answers to Questions

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Wednesday 20th March 2013 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I am sure my hon. Friend is right about Bedford’s leadership in all things. He makes an important point, which is that we need to see more small businesses start and more enterprise. We have seen in Britain over the last three years the fastest rate of new business creation in our history, but we need to see more of it to keep the private sector going.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

Q8. Rising unemployment remains an issue in my Stockton North constituency. Is unemployment and recession, which grind hard-working families and the most vulnerable into the ground, a price worth paying for next month’s obscene tax cut for millionaires?

[The Prime Minister]

If the hon. Gentleman looks at the figures today, he will see that there are 131,000 more people in work over the last quarter. We have seen 600,000 more people employed compared with a year ago. That is what is actually happening in terms of employment. I have to say, when we look at the mess we were left by Labour, being given advice on economics on Budget day from Labour is like asking Enron for accountancy advice.

European Council

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 22nd October 2012 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

We are getting slightly ahead of ourselves. We need to use the development of the European Union to seek a fresh settlement. There must then be fresh consent for the fresh settlement. There is time to elapse before that can happen because of the immediate firefighting in the European Union, and we can go on discussing it between now and the next election.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

We have heard a lot today about protecting British interests, but will the Prime Minister set out how he expects to protect those interests from being harmed by closer European fiscal integration, when he did not even guarantee us a seat at the table for the negotiations?

[The Prime Minister]

My view is that it is inevitable that the eurozone countries will have to integrate further. As a country that is not a member of the eurozone, we must recognise that if those countries are to have a working single currency, they will have to make some changes. I therefore do not think that it would be right to stand in the way of everything that they need to do to build a currency that works. However, as that goes ahead, it is important that we safeguard our interests as a member of the European Union and, as I have said, seek a better settlement for the future.

EU Council

Alex Cunningham Excerpts

Monday 12th December 2011 Commons Chamber

[The Prime Minister]

I completely agree with that. We are members of the European Union, and that membership has not changed; nor have the treaties that govern the single market.

[Alex Cunningham (Stockton North) (Lab)]

We all know that an ill-prepared Prime Minister failed to build the alliances and friendships to ensure that Britain’s best interests were protected in Europe last week. What will he be doing on his days off, when the leaders of the other 26 EU nations are sitting around a table, working hard and discussing economics that affect countries both inside and outside the eurozone?

[The Prime Minister]

What I will be doing is sorting out the mess that the hon. Gentleman’s party left when it left office.