However, in a recent webinar with youth work leaders, minister for civil society Baroness Barran indicated that the Youth Investment Fund (YIF) – originally earmarked to build and refurbish hundreds of youth centres – would be focused on supporting “innovation”.
Speaking at the webinar organised by the National Youth Agency to promote the launch of a consultation into the Treasury-commissioned rapid review of youth work policy and funding, Barran said the YIF “remains a manifesto commitment” and had been delayed because of the pressures of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The reason for the delay is that the aim of the fund is to support and drive innovation in the youth sector and we felt it was impossible to expect people to innovate at the moment,” Barran said at the webinar.
The fund was first announced by former Chancellor of the Exchequer Sajid Javid in September 2019 in response to rising concerns about levels of youth violence amid a £1bn cuts in spending on open access youth services since 2010. Javid said it would “help build 60 new youth centres across the country, refurbish around 360 existing youth facilities, and provide over 100 mobile facilities for harder to reach areas”.
It was due to be released in April 2020 and last November the NYA called for the funding to be made available to help bridge the “blackhole” in youth work organisation’s coffers caused by the pandemic.
However, so far just £16.5m in post-pandemic support and £30m of capital funding has been forthcoming, with the rest likely to be linked to the outcome of the policy review which is being overseen by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and is due to report to ministers in May.
Barran maintained the YIF has always been about investing in “innovation” but said “maybe we didn’t communicate that as good as we could”.
“There’s lots of rumours going around… but it remains a government commitment to deliver on the YIF,” she said.
The policy review is likely to have a major say on how the funding is spent however – the YIF alongside other major DCMS programmes including the National Citizen Services and sports and arts funding targeted at young people is included in the remit.
“Open access youth work is really important but… there will be calls for [investment in] targeted provision and more residential activities,” she said.
“We won’t be able to meet every need so will have to make choices. I hope we will make better choices within the constraints we’re facing as a result of that [review] process.”
The internal DCMS review is not an open public consultation, however the department has launched two digital questionnaires to seek the views of the youth sector and young people – with the deadlines for responses closing on 2 March and 28 February respectively.
The sector questionnaire asks for views on vision and outcomes, funding models and partnerships, and data and evaluation. Questions have been developed in collaboration with youth sector representatives from the National Youth Advisory Board (NYAB), a policy forum for the sector that was established in 2018 and consists of national and regional infrastructure bodies, funders, local government and DCMS representation.
Anyone else livid??? My response to the Minister's webinar 👇👇👇https://t.co/iaHwuR3HV9#YouthWork #YouthInvestmentFund https://t.co/Et1mvOPbPY
— Adam Muirhead (@youthworkable) February 12, 2021
The DCMS documents make it clear that a particular focus of the review is to address regional differences in opportunities for young people, “considering the next steps of the YIF and the NCS programme”. It adds that DCMS will be using the review to “align its aims with other government departments and priorities for young people”.
It’s obvious the Government is throwing the term “innovation” around without seemingly understanding the definition of the word. As you rightly point out Youth Workers have arguably never been so innovative. This is a classic distract and delay by the an incompetent Govt.
— Matt 💙 (@matty896) February 12, 2021
Tony Gallagher, independent chair of the NYAB, said: “We would welcome contributions from organisations and individuals willing to share their responses to the DCMS consultation, to help inform a sector-wide submission to government. A collective view will help strengthen youth services and support for young people over the next three years, as a critical part of Covid-recovery and beyond.”
Leigh Middleton, NYA chief executive, added: “We urge the youth sector to take part in this rapid review and respond to the government consultation. It is a short survey but the weight of experience and insights from the sector is crucial to inform government policies and future funding.”
