Oral Answers to Questions

Natasha Irons Excerpts

Thursday 28th November 2024 Commons Chamber

[Stephanie Peacock]

I am incredibly grateful to the Chair of the Select Committee for that important question. We work closely with the Department for Education; I chaired a roundtable with the Schools Minister on grass- roots sport and how to get sport into schools. I also convened a meeting on women’s sport, where representatives from the Department for Education were present. I would be delighted to discuss it further, and I know the Secretary of State would, too.

[Natasha Irons (Croydon East) (Lab)]

8. What steps her Department is taking to incorporate information collected by youth sector organisations into the national youth strategy.

[The Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport (Lisa Nandy)]

The Government are co-producing a new national youth strategy with young people to grip the challenges of the generation. When I entered the Department I was shocked to find no single youth strategy. The last Government funded a lot of good youth work, but I think we can all agree that the challenges facing this generation are immense, and we need to do far more to support them.

[Natasha Irons]

On Tuesday, I chaired the all-party parliamentary group on youth affairs, where we discussed this Government’s plans for a national youth strategy with more than 80 young people and organisations from across the sector, including grassroots organisations such as Reaching Higher from my constituency, which supports young people and families across Croydon. The national plan for young people is urgent, but the 73% cut to funding for youth services under the previous Government has resulted in 4,500 youth workers leaving the sector over the past decade, according to the National Youth Agency. Can the Secretary of State outline how her national youth strategy will support youth workers and attract more people back to that vital work?

[Lisa Nandy]

The youth strategy is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers. My hon. Friend will know that my first job before I came to this place was at the youth homelessness charity Centrepoint. I am aware of the vital work of youth workers—they are a lifeline for young people, and those relationships matter disproportionately to whether a young person succeeds or fails. My Department works with the National Youth Agency to fund training bursaries for individuals who may otherwise be excluded due to cost. We are aware that some of the people who make the best youth workers have had those experiences. We are very committed to working with her and her all-party parliamentary group to ensure that we get this right.