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 youth and enrichment initiatives across government are aligned to (a) maximise impact, (b) avoid duplication and (c) better join-up in school and out-of-schools offers.

The Government's National Youth Strategy is a 10-year plan designed to ensure that every young person nationwide has somewhere to go, someone who cares for them, and a community they feel a part of. Halving the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers is one of the clear ambitions of this cross-government strategy.

As part of our commitment to this ambition, DCMS, in partnership with DfE, will invest £22.5 million over 3 years to enable up to 400 schools in areas of greatest need across England to deliver a youth-voice led, tailored enrichment offer. This funding will help schools meet the Enrichment Framework benchmarks and improve join-up between in-school and out-of-school enrichment offers.

The programme will work in tandem with other initiatives, including the Richer Young Lives fund, which will invest over £60 million across the next three years to enable organisations to deliver high-quality youth work and activities, and the £132.5 million ‘Every Child Can’ programme, which will increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities in the culture, sport, and wider youth sectors.

We are also working closely with the Department for Education to ensure wider government programmes - including the PE and School Sport Partnerships Network, National Centre for Arts and Music Education, and Music Hubs - complement the programme and avoid duplication.