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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans he has to make the provision of youth services a statutory duty for local authorities.

Government places a statutory duty on local authorities through 507B of the Education Act 1996, as amended by the Education and Inspections Act 2006 (positive leisure-time activities for young people) to secure, so far as reasonably practical, sufficient positive activities for young people. Government believes that local authorities are best placed to secure services that meet the needs of young people within the budget that is available to them.