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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to help increase the availability of detached youth work in rural communities.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and the vital role that youth workers play in delivering those services and building trusted relationships.

This government has committed to co-producing a new National Youth Strategy, which is an opportunity to look afresh at the training, recruitment and retention of youth workers, including detached youth workers. As part of the Strategy, we will be engaging closely with young people and the youth sector from across the country over the coming months to fully understand their needs and the issues they consider to be most crucial in addressing.

The Strategy will be published next year.