Youth Matters: Opportunity cards to be tested vigorously in two-year pilots

Maria Eagle denied that the cards could be used as a way of controlling young people, but said the Government is interested in the idea of rewards.

"The pilots are about seeing which of these rewards work and whether or not young people find them interesting," she said. "We will be trying a few of these things out."

Eagle also said the Government is looking at the cards as a way of helping disadvantaged young people, by putting credits on their cards "in a way that is not usually visible to the young person".

The London Borough of Brent is pushing to become one of the pilot local authorities; Liverpool has also applied. Dawn Butler, MP for Brent South, met Eagle, along with a group of young people, as part of a consultation response to Youth Matters. Butler said: "It is important that the borough can become a pilot for any initiatives: if it works here, it will work anywhere."