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NCS found to account for 95 per cent of government youth service spend

1 min read Youth Work
The National Citizen Service initiative accounts for around 95 per cent of central government's direct spend on youth services, figures published in parliament have revealed.

Statistics provided by youth minister Tracey Crouch in response to a question from Labour MP Cat Smith show that in the four years from 2014/15 to 2017/18, the Office for Civil Society spent £667.88m on youth programmes.

Of this, £634m went on the National Citizen Service - making up 94.9 per cent of the total.

The figures do not include money passed from central government to councils which goes on to be spent on local youth services. Research conducted by the YMCA published last month found that spending on youth services by English and Welsh councils has fallen by £750m between 2010/11 and 2016/17.

The NCS first launched in 2011, initially to a few thousand young people, but provision has been expanding each year, with the government setting aside around £1.2bn to deliver NCS up to 2020.

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