Youth Services
Ben Maguire Excerpts(2 days ago)
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The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Stephanie Peacock)
I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons) on securing this important debate on long-term investment in the youth sector, following a similar debate in Westminster Hall a few months ago. I am grateful to all Members who contributed to this debate. The shadow Minister perhaps did not read the room again—although it is rather empty on his side of the House. I will address some of his points later.
I want to make it clear that this Government value youth services. We know that they can play a vital role in young people’s lives, supporting their health, wellbeing and personal development. We also know that the support that youth services provide is under pressure. Since 2010, local councils have reduced spending on youth services by 73%. That is equal to the sector losing over £1 billion. That has meant fewer jobs, less co-ordination and too many young people missing out on the benefits of high-quality youth services. We are of course navigating a challenging financial period, but even in tough times, our commitment to finding long-term, sustainable ways of delivering effective support remains the same.
My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East opened the debate by painting a very powerful picture. She spoke about having the freedom to fail, and speaking as someone who grew up just before social media, I really appreciate that point. Perhaps, in the words of my hon. Friend the Member for Cannock Chase (Josh Newbury), that makes me an ageing millennial; I am not sure how I feel about that. My hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East also spoke about the huge mental health challenges, about one in five young people having a mental health condition, and about 16 to 24-year-olds being the loneliest people in society. My hon. Friend the Member for Redditch (Chris Bloore) echoed that, and this is of course Mental Health Awareness Week.
I recognise the point that my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East made about opportunity existing everywhere, but too often support is a postcode lottery, and we want to change that. As this debate has highlighted, young people face increasingly complex challenges, from mental ill health and the cost of living to worries about crime and violence. The Liberal Democrat spokesperson, the hon. Member for Sutton and Cheam (Luke Taylor), made that point powerfully.
Supporting young people and ensuring that their voices are heard is a challenge not just for national Government, but at every level of government. Strong local leadership is of course essential to delivering high-quality youth services. That is why, in the coming weeks, we will launch the local youth transformation pilot, working with approximately 12 local authorities and their partners across England. The pilot will support councils to take a leading role in planning and providing youth services that meet the needs of their communities. It will offer tailored support to rebuild local capability, improve co-ordination and ensure that services are aligned with councils’ responsibilities and young people’s wellbeing.
Many hon. Members have mentioned examples from their constituency, including my hon. Friends the Members for Ribble Valley (Maya Ellis), for Stirling and Strathallan (Chris Kane), for Glenrothes and Mid Fife (Richard Baker), for Derby South (Baggy Shanker), for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) and for Halesowen (Alex Ballinger). My hon. Friend the Member for Wolverhampton West (Warinder Juss) spoke very powerfully, and I was pleased to visit the Way Youth Zone with him last year. My hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) gave an impressive list of groups in her constituency, and I know she is really passionate about this subject, as she led a recent Westminster Hall debate on a similar topic. I heard Members’ speeches, but as I have not responded to all of them individually, I am happy to meet or write to them.
Stephanie Peacock
In the interests of time, I will not.
As the Member of Parliament for Barnsley South, I know from my area about the huge contribution and value that youth services and provision bring. I am thinking of organisations such as the Barnsley youth choir, through which hundreds of young people are given amazing experiences, opportunities and skills. Over the last couple of months, I have met the Barnsley Youth Council, the Barnsley YMCA and ChileyPep to hear their ideas for how the Government can support young people. Those conversations have made it clear that we need a long-term national direction. That is why we are developing a new 10-year national youth strategy, which will set out a clear vision for supporting young people now and in the future. The strategy will guide work across Government Departments, and it will help make sure that policies and services that affect young people are better joined up. It will also move us away from a one-size-fits-all approach. We know that what works in one area may not work in another, and the strategy will support flexible solutions that reflect local needs. That important point about joined-up services was also made by my hon. Friend the Member for Leeds North West (Katie White).
We are co-producing the strategy with young people. Their voices are shaping the priorities and the outcomes. We want to put more power in the hands of young people and their communities. My hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan) spoke about the power and role of the youth voice. Over 14,000 young people filled in our survey as part of our youth strategy work, so I assure the shadow Minister that we are putting young people at the heart of our approach.
A long-term approach is essential. Young people deserve consistent support now and over the next decade. Of course, youth workers, both paid and voluntary, are central to delivering that support. They build trusted relationships, strengthen communities and provide the vital support that young people rely on. However, after years of cuts, the workforce is under pressure and secure roles are harder to find. As we develop the national youth strategy, we are focused on rebuilding the workforce through better training, recruitment and long-term support. This is our chance to ensure that youth workers and volunteers are equipped, supported and recognised for the important work that they do. My hon. Friend the Member for South West Norfolk (Terry Jermy) spoke powerfully from his experience. In partnership with the National Youth Agency, we are helping more people, especially those from under-represented backgrounds, to gain recognised qualifications.
It is clear that youth services need stable, long-term funding to thrive. Today, the Secretary of State has announced our funding plans for this financial year. I direct hon. Members to her written ministerial statement for further details, but I would highlight the £28 million that we will put into programmes that help young people to grow, gain confidence and feel connected. That funding will expand access to trusted groups, such as the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and Uniformed Youth; go towards exploring and outdoor learning opportunities; and boost open access to local youth services. The hon. Member for Tiverton and Minehead (Rachel Gilmour) spoke about the huge benefit of being outside. Over £85 million in capital funding is being allocated to the better youth spaces programme, including £26 million in new funding to renovate and equip youth centres across the country. That, of course, builds on the work being done through the youth investment fund.
The future of Government funding beyond this financial year will be shaped by our work on the national youth strategy and dependent on spending review outcomes. We want the funding to be as impactful as possible, which is why we are looking at what young people need most. In addition to Government funding, £100 million from the dormant asset scheme is being invested in youth outcomes between 2024 and 2028. All the measures that I have outlined, from strengthening the workforce to creating safe spaces and developing a long-term national youth strategy, reflect this Government’s commitment to young people. The work of my Department will allow the development of the young futures hub, the youth guarantee and the curriculum review, to name just a few initiatives. We are committed to working across Government for our young people. We owe it to this generation to keep striving for a system that is there when they need it, not just now but in the future.
Youth Provision: Universal and Targeted Support
Ben Maguire Excerpts(3 months ago)
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Stephanie Peacock
I am grateful for that kind invitation, and I will do my best to visit in the near future.
Although the Department for Culture, Media and Sport is the lead Department for out-of-school youth provision, as a former teacher and a constituency MP who visits schools regularly, I know that support for young people is a challenge that can and should be met across Government. That is why the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport announced in November last year the co-production of an ambitious new national youth strategy. That strategy will put young people back in charge of their own destiny, providing them with meaningful choices and chances.
We have now begun our engagement with young people and the sectors that work with them, as part of the co-production process. We kick-started that process back in November, when I had the opportunity to meet a group of #iWill ambassadors. They told me how important it is for local areas to empower their young people, and they also raised concerns about mental health, youth loneliness, education and work opportunities. I have also met other stakeholders in the sector, such as Girlguiding, the Youth Endowment Fund and the National Association of Boys and Girls Clubs, to listen to those who work closely with young people and who provide them with access to trusted adults, safe spaces and new opportunities.
Stephanie Peacock
I am really sorry, but in the interests of time, I will make some progress.
Those stakeholders experience youth work at first hand, and it is vital we hear from them about the challenges that young people and the sector face, as we build the national youth strategy. A vital part of co-producing the strategy will take place through our youth advisory board and the expert advisory group, both of which will be involved throughout the strategy development process. They will provide expertise, challenge and a diverse range of perspectives. I joined the first meeting of the expert advisory group, and I look forward to dropping into a meeting of the youth advisory group soon. Its members have already provided a wealth of valuable information, which will of course inform our thinking.
In addition to listening to the insights from those groups, we are engaging in a number of other ways to ensure that all young people have the opportunity to have their say—particularly those whose voices are too often excluded. We will work closely with expert organisations, which will lead a range of engagement activities with young people. That includes a wide-reaching national survey asking about young people’s needs, challenges and priorities, which we will launch very soon. The survey is currently being finalised in conjunction with our expert groups. I do not want to pre-empt what it will include, but I would expect it to cover a wide range of issues, such as what young people’s current needs are, whether they have access to safe spaces, what they would like to have access to outside of school, and much more. The expert organisations will also be conducting in-depth focus groups and innovative events with young people to develop solutions.
Sport: Team GB and ParalympicsGB
Ben Maguire Excerpts(7 months, 1 week ago)
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Ben Maguire (North Cornwall) (LD)
Many congratulations to the hon. Member for West Bromwich (Sarah Coombes) on an excellent maiden speech.
It is the greatest honour of my life to be giving my maiden speech in this place as the Member for my home constituency of North Cornwall, where I was born and brought up. I will always be grateful to the people of North Cornwall for putting their trust in me. There are unfortunately too many supporters, friends and family to thank for their hard work and dedication in getting me to this place, but I must say a special thanks to my mother, Jennifer, my father, Joseph, and my husband, Manuel, for their unwavering love and support; and a huge thank you to my agent and sister, Rosie. To every single member of my campaign: you are quite simply the best team that any candidate could wish for and you have showed such amazing dedication to our area. I would not be here without you and I will not let you down.
It is a pleasure to contribute to this debate celebrating our Olympic and Paralympic athletes. I grew up in the small but now golden rural village of Withiel, and soon after my election, my former Withiel neighbour, Morgan Bolding, won gold in the men’s eight rowing. I commend Morgan and all our Team GB Olympic and Paralympic athletes for their amazing successes this summer.
I would like to pay tribute to my predecessor, Scott Mann, who supported much-needed transport initiatives, such as better rail connectivity to north Cornish towns. I will continue that work by fighting for much-needed transport infrastructure, because despite North Cornwall’s large size, it does not contain a single mainline rail station, and vital bus routes are routinely cut. I thank Scott for his service and wish him the very best for his future endeavours.
North Cornwall has a great Liberal tradition, so I would also like to pay tribute to my Liberal predecessor, John Pardoe, who is still fondly remembered on many doorsteps for his dedication as North Cornwall’s MP in the 1960s and ’70s. In more recent times, Paul Tyler and Dan Rogerson were fantastic Liberal Democrat representatives who fought tirelessly for our area. I was honoured to receive the support and advice of all three former Members during my election campaign. They have set the bar very high indeed.
Although the election campaign was mostly a positive experience, we did have one crisis moment. Having advertised a meet and greet where cream teas would be sold, the real dangers of AI were brought home to me: a volunteer, producing the event poster using ChatGPT or something similar, had found a photo of a cream tea—but, tragically, it was a dystopian Devon version, with the cream on first and the jam on top. Before anyone had spotted this egregious error, it had been published all over my social media. As a proud Cornishman, it was indeed a shameful moment and we immediately went into crisis mode. Luckily, we survived that unfortunate episode, and I will be sure that I am never again associated with any cream tea that is not jam first.
While preparing for this speech, I read those of my predecessors and noted the tragic resonance they still have today. John Pardoe, back in 1966, described our area as “neglected” and
“exporting a mass of young people.”—[Official Report, 25 April 1966; Vol. 727, c. 423.]
In 1974, Paul Tyler explained:
“The housing shortage is now a major social evil again”,—[Official Report, 12 March 1974; Vol. 870, c. 144.]
and in 2005, Dan Rogerson said:
“North Cornwall has more second homes than council houses”—[Official Report, 18 May 2005; Vol. 434, c. 215.]
As a young person, I felt that I had no choice other than to leave and seek opportunities elsewhere, so I talk from experience when I say that those statements all sadly remain just as true today. Working to bring well-paid, highly skilled jobs to our area will be at the top of my to-do list.
With the new Government’s pledge to build more houses, I will be fighting to make sure that we do not continue to just see more and more executive homes without the appropriate infrastructure, and which are far beyond the reach of local people. I sincerely hope that my future successor does not need to again lament the appalling state of Cornish housing 60 years from now. Everyone in Cornwall must have a safe and secure place to live.
I must admit that since my election, I have been shocked by the number of crises facing our great duchy. My inbox is bursting with cases of children needing urgent treatment in A&E due to tooth infections, with some parents even resorting to using pliers to extract their child’s rotten teeth because they cannot get an NHS dentist. GP appointments continue to be hard to come by, pharmacies are closing and waiting times are among the highest in the country. The major hospitals serving North Cornwall—Treliske, Derriford and North Devon—are crumbling. We cannot delay or review their new buildings any longer, else we risk the south-west’s hospital provision quite literally collapsing.
As well as the crises in our NHS, Cornish schools continue to receive less funding per pupil than schools in other areas of the UK, and the crisis in provision for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities is extremely alarming.
We see raw sewage being dumped into our rivers and world-renowned beaches, such as Polzeath, Harlyn and Widemouth Bay, among many others, on an almost daily basis. The water industry needs urgent reform, so that monopolistic, for-profit water companies are finally forced to invest in infrastructure rather than prioritising only shareholder dividends.
Our fishers and farmers continue to suffer from disastrous trade deals that have left them struggling to compete, and climate change has become the most urgent issue of our time, threatening to submerge towns such as Bude in the coming decades.
Despite these hardships, there is much to be hopeful about. I am deeply inspired by the dedication of our amazing communities, volunteer networks and sports clubs. I will name a few. There is Age Concern in Bodmin, and the amazing new youth centre in Bodmin, KBSK, which provides warm meals, homework clubs and a range of activities for young people. The sea pool in Bude is run by dedicated volunteers to improve the mental wellbeing of local residents. The memory café in Launceston provides respite for carers and those with memory problems. The Grace Project in Wadebridge distributes unwanted clothing to those who need it most, and there are also the community larders and food banks in Camelford, St Columb Major and Padstow.
My constituency is also blessed with many excellent sports clubs, including Wadebridge Camels rugby club, Bodmin Town football club, Launceston All Blacks rugby club and many more. I look forward to visiting the Kilkhampton ladies football club in a few weeks’ time.
It is clear to me that the best way to solve many of the problems and unique challenges that Cornwall faces is for decisions to be taken locally. My constituents, including many who did not vote at all, are fed up with the same broken political system, which, as I explained, seems to achieve very little for us in Cornwall. That is why, in addition to proper voting and fundamental political reform, I will be calling for meaningful devolution of powers, funding and responsibility from Whitehall to a Cornish legislative assembly.
Cornwall’s unique culture, heritage and language were finally recognised in 2014, when the Liberal Democrats ensured that the Cornish were granted national minority status under the European framework convention, just like the Scots, Welsh and Irish. As Liberal Democrats, we are and must continue to be the party for Cornwall. Given the subject of today’s debate, I hope the Minister will work with me to explore how we can see a Cornish team competing at the next Commonwealth games.
I finish with the words of my 15th-century predecessor, Thomas Flamank, who, like me, had previously been a solicitor and grew up in Bodmin. I hope that is where the similarities end, as he was executed soon after. He led the Cornish rebellion of 1497 and famously said:
“Speak the truth, and only then can you be free of your chains.”
Guided by those words, I will always speak truth to power on behalf of North Cornwall. Kernow bys vyken. Cornwall forever.
Madam Deputy Speaker (Ms Nusrat Ghani)
It is important to be procedurally correct in the Chamber, and the procedure is: cream first and jam second.