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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps she is taking to ensure that the hardest to reach young people are supported by the National Youth Strategy.

The National Youth Strategy outlines our plan to increase young people’s access to enriching activities, safe spaces and support from trusted adults. A key ambition of the Strategy is to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035.

To help achieve this, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport will increase place-based support in underserved places to increase impact. Some of the first funded steps to achieve this ambition include over £60 million for the Richer Young Lives Fund to provide local organisations with money to deliver high-quality youth work and fun activities.