National Youth Strategy

Rachael Maskell Excerpts

Wednesday 8th July 2026 Westminster Hall

[Rachael Maskell (York Central) (Lab/Co-op)]

It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms McVey. If we are going to make interventions that will have a real impact on lives and change opportunities and trajectories, we have to look at where we place those priorities. Of course, these transition points in life are those opportunities: the 1,001 critical days, the start of school and the transition between primary and secondary.

Then there are youth services, and I believe we are at a juncture where we need to bring our services together around our young people. We are doing incredible work on people not in education, employment or training and in the criminal justice space; we have the national youth strategy; and we are looking at young people’s wellbeing and mental health. We need to bring those into one space, because ultimately they are about the relationships that young people build with trusted adults. They do not compartmentalise themselves, and these different areas are completely interwoven, so I urge more joining up of the different strategies as we move forward.

As part of that, statutory youth services should be returned and local authorities should have the obligation but also the necessary funding. Often, we are talking about the same children who need that security as they go through their teenage years. I am bringing the organisations together in York. We have so many brilliant organisations, such as the Scouts, Guides, churches, Door 84 and the Island—I could spend a few minutes just talking about them—but, ultimately, they are working in siloes because we do not have that integration. I have the jobcentre, the local authority and the police coming, and we want to ensure that we are able to lead on having one integrated service for youth in our city.

I look to the Minister at this point in the debate, recognising the way that these services were ripped of their funding in 2011 and lost so many youth workers across the board. We lost 60% of our workforce; we can rebuild that under her leadership, but we need to ensure that services are built and co-produced by the young people so that they can take a lead in determining their future and the outcomes they want to see.

As we enter this conversation as a city—I will also be bringing it to the Minister’s door—I want to ensure that young people transition well from those years of exploration as teenagers into adulthood, with the securities that they need around them in every part of the system. That will take funding. I note the incredible £500 million, which will be transformative, but we must ensure that it is sufficient for the services that we need. Young people need opportunities and confidence as they grow into adults, and I want to ensure that our Government deliver that for them.