Parliamentary motion calls for statutory youth services

Gerry Sutcliffe, who represents Bradford South, has put forward the motion, which states that the House of Commons believes that all young people should have access to universal youth services.

The Labour Party has pledged to make youth services statutory if it wins next year’s general election, but in his submission Sutcliffe calls for the government to go further.

He wants local authority youth services to be supported by ringfenced funding from the government and for councils to work closely with schools and voluntary organisations to ensure the provision of a wide range of services.

Sutcliffe also wants MPs to back Labour’s plans to return youth policy to the Department for Education.

Last week, shadow minister for civil society Lisa Nandy warned Labour could struggle to return the youth portfolio to the DfE due to "deep" funding cuts at the department. 

Sutcliffe's motion comes five months after Bradford Metropolitan District Council cut its youth services department’s budget by 36 per cent.

A group of youth workers who were made redundant by the authority in June are leading a campaign calling for youth provision to be made statutory with a legal duty for councils to link funding for the service to the number of young people in the area.

As part of their campaign, the youth workers have launched the Statutory Youth Service petition, which has gained more than 6,500 signatures and will be handed to children’s minister Edward Timpson later in the year.

Research by Unison, published in August, found that youth services funding has been cut by £60m since 2012.