Loneliness: Young People

(asked on 24th July 2019) - View Source

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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what support the Government provides to tackle loneliness among young people.


This question was answered on 5th September 2019

Last year’s loneliness strategy, ‘A Connected Society: A strategy for tackling loneliness - laying the foundations for change’, sets out almost 60 new commitments from nine government departments. Many of these commitments are targeted at tackling loneliness among children and young people.

Examples include: teaching all primary and secondary school children in England about loneliness from September 2020 under the new subjects of Relationships Education, Relationships and Sex Education and Health Education and supporting young people to look after local green spaces and wildlife habitats, while building social connections, through the #iwill campaign.

Twenty-two of the 126 organisations funded through the £11.5m Building Connections Fund (delivered in partnership with the National Lottery Community Fund and the Co-op Foundation) are working specifically with young people at risk of loneliness. We are also working with the Office for National Statistics and other external partners to improve the evidence base on youth loneliness.

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