Finally, youth sector receives a boost

A new minister already familiar with the territory would be a stronger champion of the sector's good work, the thinking went, not least in the area of youth affairs.

But the government's acknowledgement of young people has thus far been negligible. The phrase "young people" (hardly an outlandish one in a forward-thinking society), does not appear once in the coalition agreement. And youth services will have to bear the brunt of the cuts laid out in last month's spending review.

Then, last week, some fruits of that long apprenticeship in opposition started to emerge. Loughton announced at the National Council for Voluntary Youth Services conference that youth projects will be the "primary focus" of the estimated £400m funds available from dormant bank accounts. Youth programmes were originally intended to be the key recipients of the funds under the Dormant Bank Act 2008 but David Cameron appeared to dash those hopes in the summer by announcing that the money would finance a wide range of charity projects, rebranding it the Big Society Bank in the process. Loughton claims to have won the battle to ensure most of the funds will benefit young people's projects, national and local.