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 encourage young people to engage with (a) Scouts, (b) Girlguiding and (c) other youth organisations in Fylde.

This Government recognises the transformative role that youth services play in young people’s lives, including the important role that Scouts and Girlguiding play in providing young people with opportunities to take part in new activities, make new friends and build skills for life. I have met with both organisations in my capacity as Minister for Youth.

In a written statement on 15 May 2025, the Secretary of State announced DCMS’ commitment to provide over £28 million to increase access to more and better enriching activities for young people. This includes £7.5 million funding to increase access to uniformed youth groups in areas of unmet demand and reach more young people from harder to reach communities, who are underrepresented in these organisations. Over £2.4 million of this funding has been awarded to the Scouts and over £1.4 million to Girlguiding in 2025/2026. It is the organisation's decision on how best to allocate the funding to meet objectives.

We are also co-producing a new National Youth Strategy with young people and the sectors that support them. The strategy will allow us to put young people back in charge of their own destiny, provide them with meaningful choices and chances and rebuild a thriving and sustainable sector. The Strategy will be published in the summer.