The figures were produced in response to a Parliamentary question from Jeremy Corbyn, the Labour MP for Islington North. They show that some boroughs are spending more than 400 per 13- to 19-year-old, while others are spending just 40 a head.
Overall, the average amount spent has fallen by 3 per head since 2001, but has increased by 10 per head since 1996, which is broadly in line with inflation.
The biggest-spending areas are the City of London and Kensington and Chelsea. The City is an anomaly because so few people live there, but a spokeswoman for Kensington and Chelsea said: "We probably do spend more.
We have a very strong partnership with the voluntary sector."
The figures show that the areas that spend least are Bromley, Enfield, Hounslow, Merton, and Hounslow, but Corbyn questioned the reliability of the data. He said: "Some boroughs seem to spend nothing and yet they have a youth service."
He called for the youth service to be made a separate statutory body within a local authority, so that budgets can be monitored: "It should be a statutory provision and therefore there should be equal reporting of the amount that is spent."
In his constituency, Corbyn said there had been cuts in recent years and this was leading to more concern about young people "hanging around on the streets". Since 2001, the amount spent in Islington has fallen 47 to 276 per head.
"In the case of Islington I am angry about the cuts," he said.
www.parliament.uk
See Leader, p15.
