Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to improve access to enrichment activities outside of school for children in Yeovil constituency.

As set out in Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy, this Government is committed to providing young people with more meaningful and enriching activities outside of school, with the ambition to halve the gap in participation between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.

Every Child Can, an investment of £132.5 million of Dormant Assets, will increase access to high-quality enrichment across the five categories of enrichment: civic engagement; arts and culture; nature, outdoor and adventure; sport and physical activities; and developing wider life skills across some of the most disadvantaged areas in the country. As part of the package, £12.5 million will deliver opportunities for young people to make and enjoy music in their local area, and £10 million will enable thousands of care experienced young people to form trusted relationships with creative practitioners through bespoke 1:1 support. The funding criteria, eligibility requirements and application processes will be announced in the coming months, and we are working with TNLCF to design the remaining funding.

The Government's support for enriching activities is also funded through Arms Length Bodies. Yeovil’s Octagon Theatre (an Arts Council National Portfolio Organisation) provides a wide range of creative opportunities for children and young people outside of school settings. In the last year, activities have included youth dance, choir and youth theatre delivering 29,865 hours of active participation. The Octagon Theatre also manages the Music Hub for Somerset and Dorset, funded by the Department for Education and Arts Council England. The Hub works with partners across the region to provide accessible arts and music opportunities outside school, including targeted provision for young people with SEND and subsidised or free places for those facing barriers to participation.

The constituency of Yeovil is covered by the active partnership Somerset Activity and Sports Partnership, which receives Sport England funding to increase activity levels across the whole population. In 2025/26, the constituency of Yeovil received £27,716 through Sport England's Movement Fund, which aims to reduce the number of inactive people and tackle long-standing inequalities in communities, including for young people.