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

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, what plans his Department has to provide additional funding and support to youth services and projects engaging with young people at risk of violence.

The Government recognises that the causes of youth crime are complex and are often tied to local factors. Local authorities allocate funding and deliver youth services in line with local need. The Government has made over £200bn available to local authorities to spend on local services over this Spending Review.

The Government is committed to making sure young people have opportunities to develop their skills and benefit from youth services, which are an important partner in the strategy to tackle the root causes of serious violence. The Office for Civil Society (OCS), now based in DCMS, has spent over £667m on youth programmes and supporting youth service delivery between 2014/15 and 2017/18 - with £190m of that being spent in 2017/18.

In addition, a new £200 million Youth Endowment Fund will be delivered over 10 years and will support interventions with children and young people at risk of involvement in crime and violence, will focus on those most at risk of youth violence including those displaying signs such as truancy, aggression and involvement in anti-social behaviour in order to steer them away from becoming serious offenders.

My department will continue to work closely with the Home Office on the implementation of the Serious Violence Strategy.