Youth services is a cross-government responsibility, says Culture Secretary

Some £19m has been announced as part of the government’s Million Hour Fund to improve access to youth services in areas with high antisocial behaviour rates while £1.5m of bursary funding has been made available to as many as 7,500 disadvantaged young people to access adventures away from home.

Just under £500,000 has been released for the training for around 500 new youth workers and more than £300,000 is to be split across eight regional youth work units to improve regional co-ordination of services.

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A further £250,000 being allocated to encourage local partnerships as part of the Local Partnerships Fund while the Department for Culture, Media and Sport has updated statutory guidance for councils on the delivery of youth services.

When asked if the latest funding announcement as part of the National Youth Guarantee would mitigate more than a decade of cuts to the youth sector, Frazer, MP for South East Cambridgeshire, said “youth work is not the responsibility of just one department”.

Speaking to CYP Now at the launch of the funding at Lift Youth Hub in north London, she added that “local authorities get £60bn overall budget and they have a statutory duty to provide youth services so some of that money will be spent on youth services” and highlighted funding from the Ministry of Justice and the Home Office to tackle youth violence as well as the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart scheme for youth employment, which was withdrawn in January.

“The Department for Education is responsible for education and that’s had record funding,” Frazer said.

Discussing DCMS's priorities ahead of the next general election, the Culture Secretary, who has been in post since February, said: “That is one of my passions and priorities as Secretary of State, to support young people.

“I think that if we do that, we give them the best chance of success. It's preventative work, in order to make sure they don't go down the wrong path, it helps them get into employment, it makes sure that they have good wellbeing, and good physical health. It's a massive priority.”

Responding to the funding announcement, Ndidi Okezie, chief executive of UK Youth, said while her organisation was “pleased” to see the release of the funding, “the sector is struggling from a lack of sustainable investment, a pandemic and now a cost-of-living crisis”.

“Our own research has shown beyond doubt that increasing investment in young people can transform the lives of millions and save our country billions every year – we urge the government, businesses and community funders to guarantee sustainable funding for quality youth work for the next generation,” Okezie said.

Research by YMCA England and Wales shows that, after a decade of cuts to the sector, local authorities are spending 77 per cent less on youth services – a £1bn real-terms decrease – leading to the closure of hundreds of youth clubs and the loss of thousands of highly skilled youth work jobs.