Asked by: Baroness Lister of Burtersett (Labour - Life peer)
Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking in response to Space Youth's "Hear Their Healing" campaign call for a youth-led inquiry into the mental health needs of young people.
Answered by Baroness Merron - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department of Health and Social Care)
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will publish a new National Youth Strategy, which will set out how the Government will support young people in all aspects of their lives, including support for mental health, wellbeing, and the ability to develop positive social connections.
The Department for Culture, Media and Sport has directly engaged with over 20,000 young people to hear about their worries and hopes for the future. Key themes coming through the engagement process include the need for more in-person opportunities that give access to trusted adults and mentors, along with fun opportunities to connect with peers that are accessible both in terms of access to transport and through the use of digital resources for signposting. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport will be publishing an interim report shortly, and the strategy will be published in autumn.
The Department of Health and Social Care is also working across Government and with NHS England to set up a network of community Young Futures Hubs. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at a community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to ensure that there is cross-government cooperation with regard to the setting up, funding and operation of (1) Young Futures Hubs programmes and (2) other cross-cutting youth initiatives.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what plans they have to create Young Futures Hubs in every local authority area; and whether they intend to set out a workforce development plan to support the creation of Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the recommendations of the report by the Fund the Hubs campaign group, A Blueprint for Young Futures Hubs, published on 11 March.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Baroness Anelay of St Johns (Conservative - Life peer)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they have taken to involve young people in the development and co-design of Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Baroness Smith of Malvern - Minister of State (Minister for Women and Equalities)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across a range of departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. As part of this we are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other key stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery, including considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Andrew Mitchell (Conservative - Sutton Coldfield)
Question to the Ministry of Justice:
To ask the Secretary of State for Justice, how many and what proportion of (a) male and (b) female ex-offenders found employment within six months of release in the West Midlands in the latest period for which data is available.
Answered by Nicholas Dakin - Government Whip, Lord Commissioner of HM Treasury
The latest data available (April 2023-March 2024) shows that 13.0% of females and 21.8% of males in the West Midlands region were employed six months after release from custody, a gap of 8.8 percentage points. This represents 30 females and 715 males from sample sizes of 230 and 3,280 respectively.
We know that women face additional barriers to employment, including greater prevalence of trauma, substance misuse issues and being more likely to be a primary carer for children. In recognition of these additional challenges, New Futures Network, the prison service’s specialist employment team, has a dedicated employment broker for the women’s prison estate.
In addition, an expert in education and employment for women with convictions has been appointed to the cross-government Partnership Delivery Group, which supports our recently established Women’s Justice Board. The Board will set the vision for and deliver on our ambition to have fewer women in custody.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether her Department has made an assessment of the potential impact of (a) a hub and spoke model and (b) the utilisation of detached youth work within Young Futures Hubs on (i) outreach and (ii) access for young people.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across several departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. We are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery. This includes considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: Victoria Collins (Liberal Democrat - Harpenden and Berkhamsted)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how local areas will be supported to implement Young Futures Hubs.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
Officials from across several departments are already working jointly, using evidence of what works to start to shape the Young Futures Hubs model. We are engaging with local areas, communities, statutory partners, charities, and other stakeholders, including assessing evidence they have supplied, to support the design of the Young Futures Hubs and explore options for their delivery. This includes considering how best to engage with those young people who would benefit most from support.
Across Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships, the government is adopting a phased approach to learn from what works. To roll-out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, we will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs.
Young Futures Hubs are just one part of delivering support within a much wider youth landscape and they will work closely with core services and wider initiatives spanning youth, education, employment, social care, mental health, youth justice and policing. The government is developing a National Youth Strategy to set out a new long-term vision for young people and an action plan for delivering this.
Asked by: John Hayes (Conservative - South Holland and The Deepings)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many Young Futures Hubs she plans to create in (a) South Holland and the Deepings constituency and (b) Lincolnshire.
Answered by Janet Daby - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
The government has committed to the creation of a new Young Futures Programme, which will establish a network of Young Futures Hubs and Young Futures Prevention Partnerships. Young Futures Hubs will bring together services to improve access to opportunities and support for young people at community level, promoting positive outcomes and enabling them to thrive.
To roll out Young Futures Hubs, building on the success of existing infrastructure and provision, the government will establish a number of early adopter hubs, the locations of which will be determined by where they will have the most impact. These early adopters and work in local areas and will inform the longer-term development of the programme, including how quickly we move to a greater number of hubs and where they may be located.
The government will set out more details on timelines and locations in due course.
Asked by: Edward Morello (Liberal Democrat - West Dorset)
Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to (a) monitor and (b) reduce the risk of violence to children in rural areas.
Answered by Stephen Morgan - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Department for Education)
Keeping children safe is a top priority for this government. Statutory guidance, 'Working Together to Safeguard Children' (2023), is clear that children at risk of or experiencing harm from outside their home should receive a multi-agency safeguarding response to keep them safe. It is important to recognise threats may arise from school, peer groups, online or the wider community.
From April 2025, £500 million is being made available to local authorities to roll out reforms to family help and multi-agency child protection, including where harm is outside the home. Furthermore, the Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill will strengthen multi-agency safeguarding arrangements so that opportunities to keep children safe are not missed.
The government’s Young Futures programme will establish prevention partnerships which will identify those most at risk of violence and enable access to support. In the community, a new network of Young Futures Hubs is aimed at increasing access to opportunities for children and young people, improving mental health, and reducing vulnerability to violence and crime. Cross-government work to develop the programme is taking place with a large variety of stakeholders, including those who understand best practice in rural and urban areas.
The department monitors a range of data related to children’s risk of violence, including education, social care and police national computer data. Our published dashboard allows local areas to understand factors in their area which result in vulnerability to crime and compare to their nearest statistical neighbours. This dashboard is available here: https://department-for-education.shinyapps.io/childrens-social-care-and-offending/.