Cutting youth services is 'madness', says minister

Speaking at CYP Now's Generation Neet (not in employment, education or training) event, Iain Wright told delegates that he is preparing a revised "three years on" version of Aiming High for Young People at the request of the Prime Minister.

He promised to look into the case for making youth services statutory, after Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, warned that local authorities with tight budgets are cutting early intervention services.

Blacke told Wright that young people could be prevented from becoming Neet if government strengthened the statutory basis for preventative youth services.

"There is a statutory basis for positive activities but it's not strong enough," she said.

Wright pledged to consider the idea as part of his work for the Prime Minister.

"I am very excited about integrated youth services providing that wrap around, one size doesn't fit all holistic approach for young people," he said.

"It would be madness for a local authority to think youth services are an easy cut. This is a real area where you need to invest to save. The potential social and economic costs of cutting targeted youth services is so high that this country would be paying the costs for decades to come. I implore local authorities to look at this closely and make sure that youth services are not cut."

Blacke added that raising the participation age provides a great opportunity to reduce the number of Neet young people. But she warned that government, councils and the voluntary sector would need to work together to make it a success.

"I would prosecute the first local authority that fails to keep a young person on in learning post-sixteen, once the age of participation is raised," she said.