Youth engagement: Government increases funding for summer activities schemes

Youth minister Beverley Hughes and culture minister Tessa Jowell have jointly written to local authorities to inform them about the money, which has been contributed by the Home Office to the Positive Activities for Young People (PAYP) budget. The money will be allocated to regional government offices to distribute, and is to "provide high-quality activities in gap areas over the summer period, and, where possible, to focus on building community cohesion and supporting the respect agenda".

Hughes told Young People Now that the additional funding was partly a response to government offices' reports on councils' progress in commissioning summer activities (YPN, 5-11 July, p6). "We asked offices to tell us what was happening, and the reports showed that in many areas there were plans in place ready to go, so we decided to allocate the 1.5m to make sure they could go ahead," she said.