Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessments they have made of the value of creating a legal status for those participating in full-time, long-term volunteering programmes, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, under the proposed National Citizen Service Bill<i>.</i>
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The National Citizen Service Bill will place the NCS programme on permanent statutory footing. It is estimated that NCS participants have dedicated over 8 million hours of volunteering to their local communities to date. Other opportunities for young people to participate in social action, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, have contributed to the success of NCS and made sure that young people have opportunities to develop new skills that extend and transform their life chances. The government is committed to increasing volunteering and social action, and to providing support for different opportunities and programmes that encourage volunteering.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had regarding the creation of a legal status for those participating in full-time, long-term volunteering programmes, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, under the proposed National Citizen Service Bill.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The National Citizen Service Bill will place the NCS programme on permanent statutory footing. It is estimated that NCS participants have dedicated over 8 million hours of volunteering to their local communities to date. Other opportunities for young people to participate in social action, such as those run by City Year UK, vInspired and Volunteering Matters, have contributed to the success of NCS and made sure that young people have opportunities to develop new skills that extend and transform their life chances. The government is committed to increasing volunteering and social action, and to providing support for different opportunities and programmes that encourage volunteering.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the progress made by the #iwill campaign towards meeting its aim of having an additional 1.5 million young people involved in social action by 2020.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Cabinet Office and Step Up To Serve commissioned Ipsos MORI to survey 2,021 10-20 year olds in September 2015 to determine the proportion of young people involved in social action in the UK. The survey helps to measure the progress of the #iwill campaign and found that 42% of 10-20 year olds took part in meaningful social action.
Cabinet Office has pledged to support the #iwill campaign by ensuring that young people from all backgrounds have the opportunity to engage in meaningful youth social action opportunities.
Opportunities for young people to get involved in youth social action can be found through the #iwill campaign website which sets out many of the excellent programmes that already exist in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions they have had regarding the funding of youth social action projects outside National Citizen Service.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
Cabinet Office is committed to making social action a part of life for all 10-20 year olds, creating opportunities for young people to develop new skills and give back to their community.
In 2015/16 Cabinet Office will invest £1.2 million to support the development of national and local youth social action opportunities for 10-20 year olds. The investment has been match funded by Pears Foundation and UK Community Foundations. These funds will run until July 2017.
Cabinet Office has also invested £10 million, through LIBOR fines, in Youth United to run the Uniformed Youth Social Action Fund. This fund aims to create over 15,000 places in uniformed youth groups in the UK.
We will be making further announcements on youth funding in due course.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what assessment they have made of the impact of the reduction in the Cabinet Office budget on the budget for the Office of Civil Society.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The Office for Civil Society will make general efficiency savings in its core budget, but it will also receive an additional £80million to grow social investment and the funding to offer up to 300,000 National Citizen Service places in 2019/20.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how they plan to support the #iwill campaign to meet its aim of having an additional 1.5 million young people involved in social action by 2020.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The Cabinet Office has pledged to support the #iwill campaign by ensuring that all young people have the opportunity to engage in meaningful youth social action opportunities.
We have also invested £1.2 million to support the development of youth social action opportunities in low socio-economic and rural areas and the East of England and £10 million of LIBOR fines to create over 15,000 places in uniformed youth groups in the UK.
Asked by: Baroness Royall of Blaisdon (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Cabinet Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government how many people aged 18 to 25 were registered to vote before (1) the 2010 general election, and (2) the 2015 general election.
Answered by Lord Bridges of Headley
The information requested falls within the responsibility of the UK Statistics Authority. I have asked the Authority to reply.