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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to increase the provision of youth clubs in (a) North Cornwall constituency and (b) rural areas.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we remain committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential regardless of where they grow up.

In Cornwall, over £1.2 million was invested under the Youth Investment Fund, with Yes KBSK dance group in Bodmin receiving a £400,000 grant to provide them with a permanent home called "the Space". The group offers sessions in the performing arts and other youth work, focusing on helping disadvantaged families.

Our engagement for the National Youth Survey has proactively involved young people from rural areas, as well as other demographics. In order to reach young people in all areas of the country, we developed a communications campaign and worked with a variety of stakeholders who support young people to disseminate information. We developed a toolkit for organisations to run their own consultation workshops with young people to feed in their views. In addition to this, we have run a wide-ranging survey, workshops, focus groups and ‘hacks’ to give young people the opportunity to develop solutions.