Question to the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs:

To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of local food partnerships.

Answered by Daniel Zeichner - Minister of State (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs)

The Government will be considering the role of place-based initiatives, including Local Food Partnerships, as we develop our plans to support our farmers and food and drink businesses, boost food security, invest in rural communities, deliver growth, manage waste more effectively across the supply chain, improve resilience to climate change and tackle biodiversity loss.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has made an assessment of the potential merits of consulting with young people on cross-government decision-making processes.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

This Government recognises the value of effective youth participation in decision making at all levels. We understand this leads to impactful policy locally, regionally and nationally.

Youth consultation opportunities are taking place across government:

• As announced in the Get Britain Working White Paper, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education have established a Youth Guarantee Advisory Panel to help shape the design and development of the Youth Guarantee.

• The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government recently convened two roundtables with young people to inform work on their long term strategy for communities.

• Young people have been invited to participate in an online debate run by the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to help inform the revision of the Government’s Environmental Improvement Plan.

The DCMS-led new National Youth Strategy will be co-produced with young people. We have already conducted Ministerial roundtables with young people and over the coming months will conduct a number of different youth engagement activities. We have set up a Youth Advisory Group to work alongside us throughout the development of the Strategy, and will shortly launch a national survey to ask young people about their issues and priorities.

The Secretary of State has written to all MPs to encourage them to engage with young people in their constituencies in support of the Strategy. This included an engagement toolkit so MPs can run their own workshops and discussions with young people, or encourage organisations in their constituencies who work with young people to do the same.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help support local authorities to provide statutory services for young people.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. At the Autumn Budget, we announced £1.3 billion of extra funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for the next financial year.

In 2025/26, we will be launching the Local Youth Transformation pilot which will support local authorities to build back capability in the youth space and improve local youth offers.

We are developing a new National Youth Strategy co-produced with young people, which will set out a new vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this. We will be publishing an interim report this spring and the Strategy will be published this summer.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential impact of (a) youth and (b) other preventative services on (i) social cohesion and (ii) the economy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Youth work is estimated to have an indirect economic value of £3.2 billion, including £0.5 billion from decreased crime, £1.7 billion from improved health, and £0.8 billion from increased employment and education. There is also evidence that youth social action has positive impacts on young people’s sense of belonging and active citizenship, as well as inter-generational relationships and communities’ feelings of pride in local areas.

Question to the Attorney General:

To ask the Solicitor General, what recent discussions she has had with Cabinet colleagues on prosecuting knife offences.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Solicitor General (Attorney General's Office)

I am aware of the terrible cases that have occurred in your constituency and these tragic cases are an example as to why we have committed to halving instances of knife crime in a decade as part of this Government’s Plan for Change.

Violent crime is too high, too many lives are still being lost to knives, and we too often see the consequences of these heinous crimes in the press. By banning zombie knives, tackling online sales via Ronan’s Law and working closely with community leaders, this Government has already taken robust action to tackle this issue.

We will continue to take action to reduce knife crime further. I am committed to the Crown Prosecution Service playing a full part in this critical work, and it requires a whole system effort.

This is an issue that is regularly discussed at Mission Boards and which I will continue discussing with Ministerial colleagues and the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to help increase the number of young people in work.

Answered by Alison McGovern - Minister of State (Department for Work and Pensions)

As part of our plan to Get Britain Working, we will launch a new Youth Guarantee for all young people aged 18-21 in England to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work. The Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education are working closely with the eight Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England set to receive grant funding to deliver the Youth Guarantee Trailblazers from Spring 2025. We will use the learning from these Trailblazers to inform the future design and development of the Youth Guarantee as it rolls-out across the rest of England.

This is alongside a new national jobs and careers service to help get more people into work, work health and skills plans for the economically inactive, and the launch of Skills England to open new opportunities for young people. We will work in partnership with organisations and businesses at the national and local level to offer exciting and engaging opportunities to young people. This could include work experience, training courses or employability programmes.

The Government is also reforming the apprenticeships offer into a more flexible growth and skills offer, aligned to the industrial strategy. The Department for Education is working to introduce new foundation apprenticeships for young people, as well as shorter duration apprenticeships, in targeted sectors. These will help more people learn new high-quality skills at work, fuel innovation in businesses across the country, and provide high-quality entry pathways for young people.

DWP currently provides young people aged 16-24 with labour market support through an extensive range of interventions at a national and local level. This includes flexible provision driven by local need, nationwide employment programmes and support delivered by work coaches based in our Jobcentres and in local communities working alongside partners.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she plans to increase funding for youth services.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

As set out in section 507B of the Education Act 1996, local authorities have a statutory duty to secure, so far as is reasonably practicable, sufficient provision of educational and recreational leisure-time activities for young people. At the Autumn Budget, we announced £1.3 billion of extra funding through the Local Government Finance Settlement for the next financial year.

We are developing a new National Youth Strategy co-produced with young people, which will set out a new vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this. We will be publishing an interim report this spring and the Strategy will be published this summer.

Funding allocations for specific programmes in 2025/26 will be communicated in due course, following the completion of business planning. It will include:

• Over £85 million of capital funding to create fit-for-purpose spaces in places where it is most needed. This includes the Better Youth Spaces Fund - £26 million for youth clubs to buy new equipment and do renovations;

• The Local Youth Transformation Fund to start the journey of building back lost capability in local areas;

• Completion of Youth Investment Fund projects underway.

Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether she has held discussions with representatives of young people on the development of the national youth strategy.

Answered by Stephanie Peacock - Parliamentary Under Secretary of State (Department for Culture, Media and Sport)

Both the Secretary of State and I have conducted roundtables with young people and over the coming months will conduct a number of different engagement activities with young people, including focus groups.

In addition, a Youth Advisory Group was established in December 2024 to support DCMS to develop the National Youth Strategy. It will form a key part of the co-production of the National Youth Strategy, ensuring young people have a decision-making role throughout the process by providing expertise, challenge and a range of perspectives.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make an assessment of the potential impact of youth services on public health outcomes.

Answered by Ashley Dalton - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)

Youth services play a vital role in achieving positive outcomes for public health, by promoting healthy behaviours, building resilience, and improving mental and physical wellbeing among young people. These services provide early intervention and support that can prevent the development of more serious health and social issues, including mental health challenges, substance misuse, and physical health problems.

The Government is committed to raising the healthiest generation of children ever.  Through the Young Futures Hubs we will provide open access mental health support for children and young people in every community in England.

In 2024/25, the Department is running a Shared Outcomes Fund project, backed by £8 million, to boost and evaluate the impact of 24 existing early support hubs. These drop-in centres offer mental health support and advice to young people without a referral by a doctor or school.

On 12 November 2024, the Department of Culture, Media and Sport announced the co-production of a National Youth Strategy which will aim to provide more opportunities to young people, bring power back to young people and their communities, and rebuild a thriving and sustainable youth sector. The physical and mental health and wellbeing of young people will be considered when developing the strategy.

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the potential impact of using enrichment activities on rates of student absenteeism.

Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)

For children to achieve and thrive, they need to be in school. The department is working to make sure that all children and young people have access to a variety of enrichment opportunities at school as an important part of our mission to break down barriers to opportunity. Absence is a key barrier we seek to break.

High standards can only be built on a foundation of belonging at school. Thanks to the hard work of the sector there has been progress, but we remain a long way off pre-pandemic levels.

The department recognises that enrichment activities are a vital way for children and young people to gain skills and strengthen their sense of school belonging, supporting them to achieve and thrive. We know how important it is to ensure that opportunities are available for all children and young people. For example, the department is providing over £2.9 billion this financial year for the pupil premium grant to improve educational outcomes for disadvantaged pupils in state-funded schools in England. Schools must use this funding in line with the department’s ‘menu of approaches’, which is based on the evidence of how best to improve attainment for disadvantaged pupils. This includes the flexibility to use pupil premium to tackle non-academic barriers to success, including providing enrichment opportunities to benefit those pupils who may not be able to have access otherwise.

Additionally, the National Wraparound Childcare Programme is improving the availability of childcare across the country and providing additional support for parents. The programme aims to ensure all parents are able to access full time wraparound childcare beyond the school day, enabling parents to work and supporting children with enriching opportunities.

The department will continue to monitor the evidence base for the impact of enrichment activities and a variety of factors that support attendance. In addition to ensuring children have access to enrichment activities, we are also tackling absence by expanding our attendance mentor programme, rolling out breakfast clubs to all primary schools, and providing access to specialist mental health professionals in every school.

Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, if he will make it his policy that decisions on the allocation of funding through the Children Hospices Grant are made by his Department.

Answered by Stephen Kinnock - Minister of State (Department of Health and Social Care)

We are providing £26 million of revenue funding to support children and young people’s hospices. It will once again be transacted by integrated care boards on behalf of NHS England. This is in line with National Health Service devolution and promotes a more consistent national approach and supports commissioners in prioritising palliative and end of life care.

NHS England will set out the details of the 2025/26 funding allocation and dissemination to individual hospices shortly.

In February 2025, I met with key palliative and end of life care, including hospice, stakeholders to discuss the long-term sustainability of palliative and end of life care, within the context of our 10-Year Health Plan.