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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, what steps her Department is taking to provide adequate funding for the youth sector (a) workforce and (b) infrastructure needed to deliver the National Youth Guarantee.

The Government recognises the vital role that youth services and activities, and the workforce that delivers them, play in improving the life chances and wellbeing of young people.

While local authorities are responsible for delivering youth provision, the Government has worked closely with local authorities to update statutory guidance to support this delivery. The Government additionally provides significant funding to support youth services, with over £1.1 billion provided to the youth sector from DCMS In England between 2015 and 2021.

Furthermore, over this Spending Review Period, DCMS is investing over £500 million in youth services to deliver the National Youth Guarantee, a government commitment that by 2025, every young person will have access to regular clubs and activities, adventures away from home and opportunities to volunteer. This includes a significant number of interventions. For example, the Youth Investment Fund is delivering grants to build, renovate and expand youth centres, and the Million Hours Fund has created more than a million hours of youth activities in antisocial behaviour hotspots.

To support the workforce, DCMS funds the National Youth Agency (NYA) to set professional standards, qualifications and a curriculum for youth work. In addition, over the past three years we have worked with the NYA to provide bursaries to help more than 2000 youth workers access training and qualifications. DCMS also provides funding to the Regional Youth Work Units to ensure a consistent minimum level of regional leadership, as well as funding to create new Local Youth Partnerships and support existing ones to encourage and build local coordination.