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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential merits of reallocating the funding for National Citizen Service to the youth sector from April 2025.

We appreciate the disappointment many will be feeling following the decision to wind down the NCS programme from March 2025 and close the NCS Trust when parliamentary time allows.

This Government acknowledges the great work NCS have done over the years providing thousands of young people from all backgrounds with opportunities to become ‘work-ready and world-ready’.

We also acknowledge the challenges facing the sector and the changing needs of the young people it supports. That is why this government has launched the co-production of an ambitious new National Youth Strategy, which will be developed together with young people and the youth sector.

Funding allocations for specific programmes will be communicated in due course.