Opinion - Howard Williamson - A decade of youth policy under Labour

I was very closely involved in the early days when there really did seem to be a shift in commitment to young people. Gordon Brown viewed the welfare to work agenda - of which the most significant element was the New Deal for Young People - as both an economic development and a social inclusion strategy. Tony Blair launched Bridging the Gap - the strategy to address the "NEETs" - with an expression of commitment to leaving no young person socially excluded.

All this was to be achieved across the policy areas of education and training, health, housing and crime, through more robust attention to four things. There was prevention and early intervention. There was better targeting and co-ordination of services. There was improved multi-agency working. And there was mentoring and personal support. These four cross-cutting principles threaded like a snake through every youth policy document.