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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what steps the Government is taking to uphold the commitment it made at the 9th Commonwealth Youth Ministers Meeting outlined in point 2 of the Final Communiqué to empower young people as partners and agents of positive change.

Government provides a grant to the British Youth Council to deliver a youth voice programme, which gives young people platforms to make their voices heard on local and national issues that are important to them. This includes the UK Youth Parliament and the Make Your Mark ballot and the Youth Select Committee.

The National Citizen Service (NCS) Trust estimate that participants in the programme have given around 10 million volunteering hours. The Government also supports Step Up to Serve's #iwill campaign, which aims for 60% of young people to be involved in giving back to their communities through social action by 2020.