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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to enable young people to participate in open access youth work.

The provision of open access youth services in Scotland is the responsibility of the Scottish Government.

Government recognises the transformational impact that open access youth work can have especially for young people facing multiple barriers of disadvantage, that is why we have invested £40m in the Youth Investment Fund to boost open access youth services in 6 disadvantaged areas and expect over 300,000 young people to benefit.

However Local Authorities in England have a statutory duty to provide sufficient open access services in their area. We believe they are best placed to know what is required in their communities.

The Government announced in the Civil Society Strategy its commitment to reviewing the guidance which sets out the statutory duty placed on local authorities to provide appropriate local youth services. Further announcements will be made in due course.