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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what assessment she has made of the effectiveness of the local authority statutory duty to provide youth services.

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

This Government is passionate in delivering for young people, that’s why this Government has set out the National Youth Strategy. This strategy clearly states that young people should have people who care, places to go and things to do, and to feel heard and seen.

As part of the National Youth Strategy we have committed to explore reviewing the current local authorities’ statutory duty for youth services as part of a wider review of local statutory duties. This will look at whether the current duty is working and at how to empower local authorities to better deliver on their responsibilities for youth services.

Local authorities currently play a key part in delivering youth services, reflected in their statutory duty to provide sufficient leisure-time activities and facilities in line with local needs. After years of funding cuts to Local Authority funding we know that some areas have faced challenges in meeting this duty. That’s why this Government is investing nearly £70 million over the next three financial years to better support local authorities' delivery for young people.

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 ensure that the hardest to reach young people are supported by the National Youth Strategy.

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

The National Youth Strategy outlines our plan to increase young people’s access to enriching activities, safe spaces and support from trusted adults. A key ambition of the Strategy is to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.

To help achieve this, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will increase place-based support in underserved places to increase impact. Some of the first funded steps to achieve this ambition include over £60 million for the Richer Young Lives Fund to provide local organisations with money to deliver high-quality youth work and fun activities.

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Found: meeting Members present: Dame Karen Bradley (Chair); Lewis Atkinson; Ben Maguire; Robbie Moore; Margaret Mullane