Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, What steps she is taking to enable more young people to access extracurricular and youth activities outside school hours.

The government’s response to the Curriculum and Assessment Review’s report, and the Schools White Paper, committed to set out a core enrichment offer through our upcoming Enrichment Framework that every school and college, in every community, should aim to provide. This includes access to civic engagement, arts and culture, nature, outdoor and adventure, sport and physical activities and developing wider life skills, and can include delivery within the school day, or beyond it, for example, at after-school clubs or weekend activities.

Last year, the government published ‘Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy’, a 10 year plan to ensure every young person across the country has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them and a community they feel part of. It is backed by over £500 million of funding over the next 3 years from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport for outside of school activities, support when and where young people need it, more safe spaces to connect with peers and trusted adults, and better local youth offers. It also includes a clear ambition to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.