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 took to actively encourage young people to apply to be a board member for the National Citizen Service Trust; and how many of those positions will be reserved for young people.

DCMS endeavour to ensure that a diverse field of candidates apply to Public Appointments campaigns in order to meet the requirements of the Public Sector Equality Duty. As a result, Ministers are presented with a choice of appointable candidates whose skills, experience and qualities meet the needs of the required roles

The NCS Trust board member roles were advertised on the Cabinet Office Public Appointments website, the NCS Trust website and other channels and networks used for DCMS appointments, as well as on social media. Given the need to fill multiple Board positions, and the importance of attracting a diverse pool of applicants, we worked closely with the NCS Trust to identify a variety of other channels specific to the requirements of these roles and to endeavour to attract a diverse field of candidates

In addition, NCS Trust has an extensive national youth board network, via which the views of young people across the country are heard at all levels across the NCS Trust. Representatives from the youth board regularly attend the full Board meetings.