Daily roundup: Youth Contract concerns, Olympic legacy and a £150m children's hospital

The £1bn Youth Contract is not sufficient to tackle youth unemployment alone, a group of MPs has warned. The work and pensions select committee said that the scheme's target of 250,000 additional work experience placements for young people may be “unrealistic”. Dame Anne Begg, chair of the committee, said: "Some of the measures in the Youth Contract have been shown to be effective but they will only make a significant impact if all the targets are met. Our concern is that there is a real risk that the government will fall short of its more eye-catching targets.”

The government has announced a 10-point plan for securing a lasting legacy from the Olympic Games. Speaking in Parliament, sports minister Hugh Robertson said it is vital to maintain the momentum created by the Games to increase participation in sport. The legacy plan includes mention of the five-year £1bn Youth Sport Strategy, launched in January this year, which will help local authorities improve sport provision and support local clubs. MPs will be updated quarterly on the delivery of the plan.

A £150m replacement for Edinburgh's Royal Hospital for Sick Children has moved a step closer after plans were approved. The BBC reports that the building, due for completion in 2017, will replace the current children's hospital in the city, as well as the department of clinical neurosciences at Edinburgh’s Western General Hospital. It will also provide new facilities for child and adolescent mental health services, which will move there from the Royal Edinburgh Hospital.

A school is stepping in to run youth services that were axed after council funding was stopped, the Kent and Sussex Courier reports. Weekly sessions at Oriel Youth Wing, in Crawley, stopped in July when West Sussex County Council cut funding as part of a £2m savings programme. But Oriel High School, where the youth wing was based, has said it will be extending its own provision to replace what was lost. Head teacher Philip Stack said: "It is very much at an early stage but we are putting in place what we believe is the provision which is both wanted and needed by the young people in the area."

And finally, parents have called on police to rethink a decision to no longer provide officers to support cycle training in primary schools. The Fife Courier reports that Tayside Police’s road policing unit has provided officers for cycle training for "generations", but has now decided to end the arrangement. Although many cycle training schemes will continue through councils and charities, parents fear some schools could miss out.