Government seeks views on youth sector support

It is gathering evidence on the subject to assess whether the current support networks are up to the task of driving through the reforms of the ten-year youth strategy, Aiming high for young people.

In the consultation document officials state: "Whilst there are many organisations that support different aspects of young people's services, often successfully in their own right, it is not clear that support arrangements provided by these organisations are sufficiently coherent or robust enough to secure improvements throughout the youth sector."

The call for evidence covers all aspects of youth services, including local authority and voluntary projects, national, regional and local structures, and other aspects of work with young people such as youth justice, guidance, sport and health.

Children's minister Beverley Hughes said: "The responses will help us to create a stronger collaboration between government, local authorities, third sector and private sector organisations and deliver high quality services for all our young people."

The consultation is open until 9 April. It will feed into a wider National Improvement and Efficiency Strategy.