Oral Answers to Questions

Nick de Bois Excerpts

Wednesday 30th October 2013 Commons Chamber

[Mr Maude]

At is best, the civil service is not a drag on the economy; it is an important component of the economy working successfully. The leadership of the civil service identified significant deficiencies in capability, which are now being addressed. Frankly, they had been left unaddressed for far too long. Urgent action is now being taken and we need to drive it through.

[Nick de Bois (Enfield North) (Con)]

4. What assessment he has made of the work of the National Citizen Service.

[Stephen Mosley (City of Chester) (Con)]

7. What assessment he has made of the work of the National Citizen Service.

[The Minister of State, Cabinet Office (Mr Nick Hurd)]

The National Citizen Service is growing fast and is proving enormously popular with young people. The research shows clearly that it helps to develop life skills that employers value, and that for every £1 of public money we invest, society is receiving £3 of value back.

[Nick de Bois]

I thank the Minister for that answer. I was privileged to attend a challenge network campaign day in my constituency, where social action projects were put into effective and lasting programmes across the constituency. What steps will the Minister take to roll out the National Citizen Service further and expand it, and will he join me in congratulating the efforts of Enfield youngsters?

[Mr Hurd]

I certainly join my hon. Friend in congratulating Enfield youngsters and all youngsters across the country who have participated in the National Citizen Service on their efforts. He may be interested to know that to date the young people have contributed more than 1 million hours of their time to volunteer and do good work in communities. They get a huge amount out of that process, which is why we are ambitious to grow it and have said that we will make at least 90,000 places available next year.