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

To ask the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, if she will make an assessment of the potential merits of introducing statutory maximum waiting times for young people to access youth services.

This Government fully recognises the importance of youth services to help young people live safe and healthy lives, and we are committed to giving all young people the chance to reach their full potential.

We also, however, acknowledge the challenges facing the sector. That is why we are co-producing a new National Youth Strategy. The Strategy will better coordinate youth services and policy at a local, regional and national level, moving away from siloed working - ensuring services for young people are better coordinated and add up to more than the sum of their parts. We do not intend to introduce a statutory maximum waiting time for young people to access youth services.