Question to the Cabinet Office:

To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office, if he will discuss with his counterparts in the devolved administrations the possibility of extending the National Citizen Services to those administrations.

The Government is committed to giving as many young people as possible the chance to take part in this life-changing opportunity. The programme will continue to take place in every English Local Authority in 2015. 2014 saw 504 young people take part in Northern Ireland and 364 young people take part in Wales.

My officials and I continue to work closely with the devolved administrations and following successful pilots of the programme the Northern Ireland Minister for Social Development is developing a longer term plan for supporting NCS in Northern Ireland.