I beg to move, That this House has considered the National Youth Strategy and youth enrichment. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I am grateful for the opportunity to highlight the importance of the national youth strategy and youth enrichment. I know that many colleagues share my commitment to ensuring that every young person is offered the support and opportunities they need to thrive. Youth services are not a luxury, but an essential part of our communities. I commend the Minister and her team for the Government’s national youth strategy and its £500 million commitment to rebuild the places, relationships and power structures that young people need to thrive. It aims to right the wrongs of previous Administrations and confront the challenges faced by more than 10 million young people. We must be honest about the challenges. Having been born and raised in Huddersfield, I have seen at first hand the impact of austerity on young people. Too many have had their futures torn away from them. Youth services have lost around £1.2 billion in local authority funding since 2010, with more than half of council-run youth centres closing in that time. Kirklees council, which covers my Huddersfield constituency, saw a 70% decrease in funding from 2011 to 2025. That leaves just over £47 per young person being spent on youth services in our community.

We know all about funding cuts in Stoke-on-Trent and Staffordshire—they were more than 90% in our local area—so I welcome this investment. However, does my hon. Friend agree that we must ensure we get the revenue funding as well as capital funding? That is what makes activity work on the ground.

My hon. Friend is quite right, and I will come to that point later. Young people who have lost access to youth clubs have been shown to be 14% more likely to engage in criminal activity in the six years following closures. A recent project in Ashbrow in my constituency saw antisocial behaviour fall by an incredible 63%. Alongside policing operations, partnerships were developed with community organisations to support children and young people, alongside regular intervention programmes designed to support those most at risk. The evidence is clear: when youth services are cut, our young people and communities suffer; when they are funded, young people and entire communities thrive. The youth strategy sets out a 10-year vision, but current funding commitments cover only the first few years, so will the Minister outline how the Government will ensure long-term investment so that organisations have the certainty they need? Will she also confirm how her Department will work alongside other Departments to ensure greater alignment between all Government reforms focused on young people? Since being elected, I have had the privilege of visiting many of the youth work organisations in my constituency and have witnessed at first hand the life-changing work they deliver. They include Central Stars youth club, Yorkshire Community Development, Empower, Positive Stepz, Team KickStart, Conscious Youth, Boxpower and Temple Well-Being, as well as the foundations of Huddersfield Town football club and Huddersfield Giants. I will also mention organisations working at the national level, such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s award team, some of whom are here today—thank you for joining us [Hon. Members: “Hear, Hear!”]—the National Youth Agency and all members of UK Youth. All those organisations and many others deliver outstanding community-led services and policy work, often in difficult financial circumstances. Crucially, many of the organisations also offer opportunities to access sustained enrichment programmes, such as volunteering, physical activity and skills development, which can help to close opportunity gaps, particularly for young people who face disadvantage. Enrichment should not be seen as a “nice to have”; activities outside the classroom also give young people direct exposure to environments that many have never previously accessed.

My hon. Friend is generous in giving way, and she is making an important speech. The crisis of young people not in education, employment or training is one of the biggest problems we have in this country. Does she agree that youth clubs and the Duke of Edinburgh’s award scheme are part of how young people get the skills that will help them to get into the world of work?

My hon. Friend is quite right. That is why it is so important that we fund and support these organisations sustainably. As I was saying, enrichment activities help to raise confidence, skills and aspirations, while making future opportunities feel achievable. Last week, when I visited a school in my constituency, pupils asked me what services and activities will be available in their local area once the under-16s social media ban is in place. Importantly, access to opportunities should not depend on family income. Every £1 of public money invested in the youth sector generates between £3.20 and £6.40 in benefits for the taxpayer, while for every £1 saved from youth service closures, nearly £3 is lost in educational outcomes and increased crime costs. The Duke of Edinburgh’s award is a proven national enrichment programme that helps young people to develop skills and gain experiences that can have a lasting impact on their lives. Last year alone, more than 350 students from a range of backgrounds in Huddersfield took part in it. I was pleased to see the launch last month of the “Every Child Can” programme to fund enrichment activities, and the national youth strategy’s commitment to halving the participation gap in enrichment activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers. Youth workers see enrichment as one of the most important commitments in the strategy, so can the Minister confirm how the Government plan to deliver on that pledge, and whether she has considered an enrichment premium or targeted funding to help to do so? Alongside enrichment, many who work in the industry believe that the most significant policy change the Government could make would be to strengthen the statutory duty on local authorities to provide a sufficient local youth offer. I understand that the national youth strategy commits to “explore reviewing” that, but the youth sector is clear that it needs to be urgently prioritised. I ask the Minister: will the Government commit urgently to reviewing and strengthening the statutory duty on local authorities to provide a local offer, and will it be backed by dedicated funding and clear national benchmarks to define what sufficient youth provision means?

I make a habit of agreeing with my hon. Friend, and I particularly agree with her on that point. When I speak with youth workers, they are clear that they do not want to reinvent the wheel. Youth work works; we just need more of it to be ringfenced and have dedicated funding. We are about to have a youth hub opened in my area as part of the youth guarantee, which is fantastic news. Will my hon. Friend join me in paying tribute to MBN Arts and Mike Ness? Last Thursday, they put on a summer exhibition for younger neurodivergent, to help them with their educational and creative pathways and into a brighter future.

That sounds like an excellent programme and I absolutely commend it. Youth workers are central to delivering the national youth strategy, but the workforce are under acute pressure: more than 4,500 qualified youth workers have left the profession in the last decade, around 60% of the workforce has no recognised youth work qualification and only six undergraduate youth and community work programmes remain, down from 37 in 2013. The strategy provides a £15 million commitment for youth workers, including new qualifications and educational pathways, which is excellent, but can the Minister confirm how that will align with the Government’s wider skills reforms to rebuild workforce capacity at scale and improve job prospects in the industry? I also want to highlight the importance of Young Futures hubs, which reflect a growing understanding of the importance of youth services and provide accessible pathways into education, employment, volunteering and community participation. However, to be a success, the hubs must effectively support young people to re-engage with education and training, and create collaborative working partnerships. Can the Minister outline the steps the Government will take to deliver that long-term approach to youth engagement? I reiterate my previous requests for Huddersfield to be included in future phases of the programme; the Minister may need to pass those on to someone else, but that would be amazing. Many young people and youth support workers have persistently been excluded from having a voice or influence in the national and local decisions that directly affect them. The national youth strategy will help to change that; it includes a commitment to placing young people’s voices at its heart, and explicitly identifies youth workers as the people holding a fragmented system together. Those are major shifts, and a recognition that the sector has fought hard for. To deliver that ambition, youth participation must be built into implementation, not treated as a one-off consultation. Young people should have meaningful opportunities to shape and monitor delivery of the strategy at national and local level. That should include long-term, properly resourced mechanisms for youth voices and democratic engagement, particularly for those least likely to be heard. I will take this opportunity to give a shout-out to my annual summer school for young people from Huddersfield; it was great to welcome them to Parliament this week. One of the main issues they raised in our sessions was the importance of their voices being central to the decisions that affect them. I heard that message loud and clear. Can the Minister confirm what long-term arrangements will be established to ensure that young people are meaningfully involved in developing and implementing the delivery of the strategy at all levels? I thank the Minister for being here, and you, Ms McVey, for chairing the debate. I look forward to hearing contributions from other Members.

I remind Members that they should bob if they wish to be called. I will call the Front-Bench spokespeople at 5.10 pm. This debate is popular, so I set a time limit of three minutes and remind Members to keep interventions short.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I thank the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important debate. I am sure that all Members of this House will advocate for ensuring that the next generation has every opportunity to thrive, and to develop confidence and resilience. Youth enrichment is fundamental to building stronger communities, improving wellbeing, fostering social mobility and developing skills that needed by employers, communities and, of course, the country. My first point follows a conversation that I had with GoWild Outdoors, which is a business that operates outdoor education activities for children and young people across my constituency and beyond. That business is extremely worried about the Government’s decision to end the physical education and sport premium for primary schools, which gives primary schools direct control over funding, after the 2025-26 academic year and to replace it with the PE and school sport partnerships network. GoWild Outdoors told me that the change would mean not only a potential reduction in schools’ autonomy over how PE and sport provision is developed, but a 22% drop in annual funding. As a result, schools are already starting to cancel sessions from third-party providers, because there is a lack of clarity from the Government on how the new PE and school sport partnerships network will work and will impact funding. That lack of clarity is not just harming local businesses and third-party providers in my constituency, such as GoWild Outdoors; it is having a hugely negative impact on the children whose learning and wellbeing benefit from additional non-classroom provision. GoWild Outdoors asked me to ask the Minister for reassurance that the new scheme will not negatively impact the ability of third-party providers to deliver for children and young people who rely so desperately on the programmes that they provide, because the uncertainty is having a direct impact, right now. My second point is about the Government giving mayoralties the ability to roll out a tourism tax and apply it to accommodation for youth organisations, such as the Girl Guides and Scouts. I seek reassurance from the Government that the tax will not apply to organisations that provide youth enrichment through accommodation that is generally provided through charitable means. Doing so will have a direct impact on the youth enrichment programmes run by the many great volunteer organisations that I am sure many Members of Parliament interact with across our constituencies. I would greatly appreciate the Minister responding to those implications of the tourism tax.

I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important debate. As the chair of the all-party parliamentary group on youth affairs, I know the importance of services for young people, and I welcome the Government’s leadership on this issue. When I meet young people in my constituency or through my work on the APPG, I am struck by how tough it is to be a young person in Britain today. Whether through the 73% cut in youth services over the last decade, a housing crisis that prevents some young people from moving on to the next stage of their lives and means that others grow up in temporary accommodation, or youth unemployment, our young people are growing up in a world that is economically challenging, internationally volatile and often hostile to them. Our young people are just as ambitious, just as determined and just as willing to work for their future as anyone who has gone before them, and in that context of hope, opportunity and ambition for our young people, the national youth strategy is so important. Around £1 billion has been taken out of the sector since 2010, more than half of council-run youth centres have closed, and the statutory framework is often too weak. We have been left with a postcode lottery for youth provision, where spending on youth services can range from as little as £1 per young person in one area to £137 in another. Co-created with young people, and backed by £500 million of Government investment, the national youth strategy is a 10-year plan to provide young people with somewhere to go, something meaningful to do and someone who cares. Although I wholeheartedly welcome this landmark strategy, for it to have a truly meaningful impact it must be backed by statutory protections for the services that our young people rely on. That is why I introduced the Youth Services Bill last year, which aims to strengthen the statutory duty on local authorities by introducing clear, measurable benchmarks for what sufficient youth provision looks like. It includes expectations around qualified staff and accessibility, and it embeds the conditions needed for long-term improvement through joined-up safeguarding, quality standards and meaningful youth voice in the design and delivery of services. I have seen at first hand the impact of a lack of statutory protections for youth services. In Croydon, London’s youngest borough, the council shut down the youth engagement team, a group of wonderful youth workers who were a critical link between the voluntary sector and the council. The lack of statutory protections meant that it could be closed down without real consultation with young people, the NHS or the police. Protecting our youth provision is not about placing unrealistic burdens on local authorities; it is about making a practical investment in our young people’s future and financial savings for our communities. As has been outlined, for every £1 we save on youth services, we save up to £6.40 in social value. Although I wholeheartedly recognise and welcome this strategy, I urge the Minister and the Government to think again about how we can provide statutory protections for our youth services.

It is a real pleasure to serve under your chairship for the third time today, Ms McVey; I think we are getting to know each other quite well. I thank you for your courtesy and guidance. I also congratulate the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this debate. I spoke to her beforehand. When I saw the title of the debate, I said, “I’m definitely going to Westminster Hall.” People will say, “You’ll be in Westminster Hall anyway.” But I came racing down for this debate—I love this debate—and I am going to explain why. It is nice to see the Minister in her place again. She gets all the good debates, and today she has a really super one. I look forward to her contribution. This year is the 70th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, and a new national youth strategy will be in place. This is an opportunity to reshape what will be offered to the next generation to ensure that every child, regardless of their background, postcode or circumstances, is given the tools to become world-ready. I wanted to come and speak in this debate because my three boys, Jamie, Ian and Luke, got the Duke of Edinburgh’s award. When they were young men, Jamie got the gold and the other two boys got the bronze. I watched them march off with their impossibly heavy rucksacks into the damp, unpredictable weather, maps in hand, full of nervous energy. I watched them return tired, covered in mud, but standing just a little bit taller. I believe it taught them resilience—the hon. Member for Huddersfield outlined that incredibly well in her contribution—and it taught them how to look at a challenge, look at their peers and say, “This is something that we have to do together.” It is not just about a single person; it is about doing it together. That is what the Duke of Edinburgh’s award instils. As a father, I owe a great debt of gratitude to the legacy of the late Prince Philip, and to the ongoing devotion of the current Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Edward. Through the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, my boys made friends for life. Every year, Northern Ireland produces some of the highest completion rates anywhere in the United Kingdom for gold, silver and bronze. Our schools, our uniformed organisations, such as the Boys’ Brigade and the Girl Guides, local youth clubs and even farmers clubs have been the engines driving this success. The charity’s 70th anniversary goal is to reach 2 million more young people over the next five years—what a goal that is, and it is achievable. In Northern Ireland, young people are unfortunately dealing with a mental health crisis. It is deeply concerning. We are dealing with pockets of severe deprivation where a child might never otherwise, without the award, get the chance to see the beauty of the Mourne mountains, let alone hike across them. The Duke of Edinburgh’s award is the framework that catches young people when formal education is not enough, building their focus, memory and social awareness. It does all those things, and brings them together for us, ensuring that no child is left behind in my constituency of Strangford and across Northern Ireland, including in the inner-city estates of Belfast and the border regions. Let us use this 70th anniversary not just to celebrate the past, but to build a robust, unbreakable foundation for the future of our youth. My three boys did the Duke of Edinburgh’s award; they did well, and the award did that for them.

It is a pleasure to serve with you in the Chair this afternoon, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this debate. I welcome this Labour Government’s national youth strategy, and how it recognises the importance of achieving good work and the emphasis that it places on trusted adults. Too often, those relationships have been seen as a soft offer—a nice to have—when in fact they are a key strategic asset in tackling youth unemployment. That is because today we risk having a lost generation. There are a million young people neither earning nor learning, with hundreds of thousands of them disconnected from traditional employment support and hidden from the system entirely. A growing evidence base suggests that trusted adult relationships, whether with youth workers, coaches, mentors or others can act as the connective tissue to the wider support that will help to address the barriers locking young people out of education, employment and training. They can transform a young person’s journey to employment through the continuity, advocacy and encouragement that many need to navigate a system that is often confusing and isolating. That consistent, person-centred support can be vital in identifying those hidden NEETs too. On Monday, to mark Youth Employment Week, I hosted a roundtable with the Youth Futures Foundation where we heard the powerful testimony of its youth ambassadors: Aarya, Elaina, Grace, Niamh, Serena, Sharna and Yusra. They talked about the impact that the presence, or absence, of a trusted adult had had on them. I am living proof that trusted adults can succeed where traditional provision falls short. When I dropped out of school feeling like the world had ended, it was a local youth worker called Russell who helped to rebuild my confidence and set me on a positive journey. I would not be here representing the home that I love without the support that he gave me. In a fragmented and often confusing landscape, trusted adults can act as a golden thread, bridging young people into the right support at the right time. They can also help to draw this Labour Government’s offers together, aligning work across employment, education, skills, health and youth policy, delivering the system change required to tackle the NEET challenge. Young Futures hubs can act as centres of excellence for relational practice, offering open access and co-ordinated support for young people across employment, mental health and crime prevention in every community. I would be grateful if the Minister could set out in her response how she is working across Government to deliver this manifesto commitment, and how she thinks we can strengthen and support the role of youth workers like Russell, and trusted adults more generally, across this important policy area.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this really important debate. I also thank my two work experience students, Nicoleta and Lyra. They are both from Harlow and are in the Public Gallery today. They have prepared me a very thorough and informative briefing ahead of this debate, so my contribution might be slightly more informed than usual. When I met with Nicoleta and Lyra before this debate, they spoke about their experiences of taking part in the Duke of Edinburgh’s scheme, which obviously celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. I want to read out some of their thoughts on the scheme and the difference that it made to them and their friends and peers. Nicoleta completed the Duke of Edinburgh’s bronze award while she was studying at Burnt Mill academy. She said: “I would describe it as very insightful and gave me an opportunity to give back to community by mentoring primary school children as part of the volunteering section.” Lyra completed the Duke of Edinburgh’s bronze award while she was at Stewards academy, which is also in Harlow. She said that “taking part in a local theatre production as part of the skills section, was very insightful and ignited a new passion. As part of the volunteering being able to volunteer at Harlow Youth Council improved political interest and involvement with the town.” I think we can all agree that that is admirable and fantastic. I have a few points with regard to the national youth strategy. I welcome the publication of the first long-term youth strategy that we have had in over two decades. Following a lot of lobbying from me and others, I am really pleased that young carers were included in that strategy, because it is hugely important that groups like that are listened to and their voices are heard. I emphasise to the Minister the huge importance of prevention rather than intervention, and of ensuring that every young person, regardless of their postcode, has the opportunity to be involved in the schemes that have been mentioned. We can all appreciate, as Members across the Chamber have commented, the huge difference that taking part in schemes like the Duke of Edinburgh’s scheme can make to young people’s confidence and their ability to be part of the community. Finally—I know I am running out of time—I am really delighted that Harlow will be the home of a Young Futures hub funded by this Labour Government. I am also delighted that this Labour Government have an ambition to halve the enrichment participation gap between disadvantaged young people and their peers.

It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms McVey. If we are going to make interventions that will have a real impact on lives and change opportunities and trajectories, we have to look at where we place those priorities. Of course, these transition points in life are those opportunities: the 1,001 critical days, the start of school and the transition between primary and secondary. Then there are youth services, and I believe we are at a juncture where we need to bring our services together around our young people. We are doing incredible work on people not in education, employment or training and in the criminal justice space; we have the national youth strategy; and we are looking at young people’s wellbeing and mental health. We need to bring those into one space, because ultimately they are about the relationships that young people build with trusted adults. They do not compartmentalise themselves, and these different areas are completely interwoven, so I urge more joining up of the different strategies as we move forward. As part of that, statutory youth services should be returned and local authorities should have the obligation but also the necessary funding. Often, we are talking about the same children who need that security as they go through their teenage years. I am bringing the organisations together in York. We have so many brilliant organisations, such as the Scouts, Guides, churches, Door 84 and the Island—I could spend a few minutes just talking about them—but, ultimately, they are working in siloes because we do not have that integration. I have the jobcentre, the local authority and the police coming, and we want to ensure that we are able to lead on having one integrated service for youth in our city. I look to the Minister at this point in the debate, recognising the way that these services were ripped of their funding in 2011 and lost so many youth workers across the board. We lost 60% of our workforce; we can rebuild that under her leadership, but we need to ensure that services are built and co-produced by the young people so that they can take a lead in determining their future and the outcomes they want to see. As we enter this conversation as a city—I will also be bringing it to the Minister’s door—I want to ensure that young people transition well from those years of exploration as teenagers into adulthood, with the securities that they need around them in every part of the system. That will take funding. I note the incredible £500 million, which will be transformative, but we must ensure that it is sufficient for the services that we need. Young people need opportunities and confidence as they grow into adults, and I want to ensure that our Government deliver that for them.

It is always a pleasure to see you in the Chair, Ms McVey. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for introducing this really important debate on national youth strategy and youth enrichment. I truly welcome it because, as a former teacher and deputy headteacher, I saw the transformative impact that youth work, enrichment activities, sport, volunteering, the arts and outdoor education can have on a young person’s confidence, aspirations and life chances, but I also saw the consequences when those opportunities were decimated. We have a growing number of young people who feel safe only in their bedrooms on digital devices. That has to change. For too long, young people have paid the price for over a decade of austerity. Local authority spending on youth services in England and Wales has fallen by 74% in real terms since 2010, while the number of local authority-run youth centres has fallen from 931 to 379. Investing in young people is smart economic policy, too. I know that education never stops at the school gates. Young people learn resilience through volunteering, teamwork through sport and confidence through challenge. That is why I welcome the Labour Government’s commitment through the national youth strategy to ensure that every young person has somewhere to go. Backed by more than £500 million, it includes investment in youth spaces, a new enrichment entitlement and an ambition to halve the enrichment gap by 2035. I particularly welcome the Government’s recognition of opportunities that should not be based on family income, geography or background. I grew up in an area called Ashmore Park, and we had a youth club on my doorstep. I spent many an evening there—I will stop the conversation there. It was one of 30 local youth centres that were lost over 15 years, and we felt that hole in the community. But recently and despite those challenges, there are organisations in Wolverhampton and Willenhall that are delivering the vision that we set out in the strategy. I must mention the Wolves Foundation in conjunction with Wolverhampton city council. A couple of weeks ago I went to one of their community space sport activities, had a go at basketball, shot a few hoops—I do not know whether that is the right phrase—and had a brilliant time. More importantly, so did the 50 other young people with the free activities in Heath Town. We are opening up the same in Tennyson Road, in Low Hill and the Scotlands as well. I must mention the Loft youth club at the Hive in New Invention. Across Wolverhampton, the Way Youth Zone has become a shining example of what investment in young people can really achieve. I will finish by thanking the Duke of Edinburgh’s award and all the staff and volunteers that take part to give young people a brilliant opportunity to really find themselves, and I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield for securing this important debate.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this important debate. In Dartford and our towns and villages we have an increasingly youthful population, with a quarter of households in the constituency comprising a family with children. Our young people do our community proud, from our brilliant Kent youth county councillors, including Madalena, Amelia, Sam, Stephan and Flourish; our Dartford youth councillors; Heritage, who got to the final of Monday’s Poetry by Heart national competition; and so many others who star in our cultural and sporting life. And let us not forget eight-year-old Ruth, who wrote a brilliant and persuasive handwritten letter to me last week about YouTube. Ahead of the Government’s very welcome national youth strategy last year, it was a pleasure for me to work with the YMCA to host an event to discuss with our Dartford young people what they wanted to see in the strategy. The concerns they shared at the event were many and varied. They worry about their futures: how they will find affordable housing, cope with the cost of living and deal with growing challenges to their mental health and to their sense of community in a digital age. There was a strong feeling in the room that their generation needed better public transport, access to more varied job opportunities locally, and more places for them and other young people to come together. Last year’s national youth strategy was a wonderful document. It rightly promised a place-based approach to rebuilding a local offer for young people, and I hope that for Dartford it will mean more sports facilities such as a rebuilt Swanscombe Pavilion and more youth provision in the town centre. I hugely welcome the youth guarantee. The challenges faced by young people getting into the early stages of a career come through in the people I meet and the stories I hear across Dartford. It is welcome that Dartford will host one of the Government’s new youth hubs, providing access to expanded employment and wraparound support services. But we need to go further, as others have said, to rebuild the youth services lost over the past decade and a half, and to give young people a chance to meet, create, play sport and learn. One of the great underacknowledged dimensions to young people’s excessive use of social media and its effect on their mental health is the loss of such opportunities. We owe it to young people in Dartford and across the country to give young people back the chance to grow, to take risks and to unlock their talent.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this really cool debate, and I refer Members to my entry in the Register of Members’ Financial Interests. In Gravesham, we have a good track record of listening to and working with our young people. Gravesham Youth Council is about to celebrate its 26th anniversary. The current chair of the council is work shadowing with me this week, and I am married to the first chair of the council, who was activated to enter politics because his youth club was closed by the then Conservative-run Kent county council. How things have changed—or not changed. Under the last Conservative Government, that trend continued. Kent County Council used to have 36 youth centres; the number went down to 12, and now the youth centres are family hubs. There is limited open-access provision, as family hubs are not available exclusively to young people. Indeed, a young person needs a referral or targeted youth support to gain access to those services, rather than there being predominantly open-access youth services. The national youth strategy aims to reverse that decline and to enhance youth services, which I really welcome. Last week, I attended an event hosted by Gifted Young Gravesham and organised by the charity The Grand, and there were representatives from nearly every local secondary school on the day, which was a very hot one. When I spoke to school councillors during a consultation on growing up in the online world, I heard many of the same themes: social media disrupts sleep patterns, but also young people are struggling inside and need somebody to talk to. They want somewhere to go, but where can they go? That is the digital isolation paradox, which is evident across the UK. One young person at that event said: “Social media is so extremely flawed - but it’s all we have. If we had more places to go outside of social media, we’d be happy. But adults build these toxic platforms, and then got angry when they hurt us. They destroyed the places where we would connect and got angry when we stayed home.” That is the paradox, and that is where the national youth strategy is coming with more youth centres. We are grateful to have been able to receive a youth hub, working with the Department for Work and Pensions in Gravesham and with the Gravesham Youth Council. I am fulfilling a promise by directly reporting back to the Minister, the Members and all the decision makers who are here today, to show that we are listening to and hearing young people. I have to agree with my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons) about how we can help to structure young people’s voices. Young people’s voices need support around them, and we have heard some really amazing testimony today from my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) about the impact of youth work. Youth workers are professionals who need to be protected by statutory requirements for local authorities to fund this quality and professional service. That can be done. Indeed, it has been done in Scotland with the Community Learning and Development Standards Council, and I urge the Minister to look into that. I will end with a quote: “Young people are not a problem to be solved. They are potential to be unlocked.”

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship today, Ms McVey. I pay tribute to the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) for securing this important debate and I also pay tribute to all the other Members who have spoken in it for making really excellent speeches. Some very compelling points were made about the value and importance of youth services and youth enrichment. I have no doubt that many in this Chamber share my core belief that every child and young person has some innate and special talent and ability in them, and that it is our job as families and as a wider society, through both the formal and informal support that we put in place, to draw out that talent and ensure that every young person grows up to thrive and contribute to our society and our economy. Youth services and youth enrichment are a key part of that, including, of course, the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, which celebrates its 70th anniversary this year. It has helped so many young people to improve their skills and has equipped them to make valuable contributions to their communities and societies. I congratulate all the young people across the country, and especially in my constituency of Twickenham, who have completed their bronze, silver or gold awards. I also offer huge thanks to all those people who give up their time to make the awards happen. I know some very hard-working teachers who give up their weekends to go camping and do all sorts of crazy things in all weathers. I am awestruck by them. I certainly would never do that, but I am not a camper. I thank all of them. These experiences not only change individual lives, but strengthen our communities. Through volunteering in the community and completing expeditions, young people are countering the rising tide of isolation. Last year alone, young people participating in the Duke of Edinburgh’s award contributed to an impressive 6 million hours of volunteering, with an estimated value of £45.4 million. A number of Members have mentioned Alan Milburn’s recent report on young people not in employment, education or training, and the scale of the challenge that we face. It is important that we challenge the narrative we hear all too often that young people are disengaged, lazy or selfish. Actually, they are anything but. This generation is growing up in an online world shaped by economic uncertainty, mental health challenges, rapid technological change and concerns about the future of our planet but, time and again, young people show us their determination, creativity and drive, especially when they are given the space and support to thrive. The Liberal Democrats have long campaigned for a fair and long-term funding settlement to support youth work, resources and infrastructure. We very much welcome the Government’s national youth strategy, particularly their promise to introduce multi-year funding settlements and halve the participation gap in enrichment activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers by 2035. I note, however, the recent YMCA report, which found that spending on youth services by local authorities in England and Wales fell by 10% in a single year, in the largest annual reduction since 2016-17. At the same time, we know that children from lower income backgrounds have less access to enrichment activities outside school, and that schools are facing tighter budgets than ever. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reported that almost one in five schools has cut back and stopped enrichment activities and clubs in order to provide support for pupils experiencing hardship. I also draw the Minister’s attention to a briefing from the Duke of Edinburgh’s award, which notes the vital role that education providers play in successfully implementing enrichment targets, especially in the light of some of the cuts we have seen in youth services. With both schools and youth providers stretched to the limit, the Government’s ambitions will be challenged. Achieving them will depend on practical support, sustainable funding and capacity. We have already seen concerns emerging in West Sussex, where the county council has decided to stop centrally commissioning the award, leaving many schools unable to meet the administrative costs themselves. I would be grateful if the Minister could share whether she is aware of similar situations arising elsewhere in the country. I am keen to understand what discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Education on the ask from the Duke of Edinburgh’s award for 80 hours of enrichment per year for every young person. As we have heard, the evidence for investment is compelling. We know that enrichment activities can help to improve school attendance, and we have heard about the return on investment from youth services, reducing pressure on other public services. Without funding certainty beyond the three years currently promised, we know that youth organisations will struggle to run consistent programmes. [Interruption.] I am being asked to wind up, so I will just reiterate that the consequences of under-investment are clear and youth services are not an optional extra. The Liberal Democrats stand ready to collaborate with the Government to ensure that the right investment goes in for our young people and their future.

As always, it is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Ms McVey. I congratulate the hon. Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this important debate. We all recognise that this issue is increasingly important to our constituents across the country. I spend a lot of time discussing it as both the local MP in Old Bexley and Sidcup and a shadow Minister. I have had the pleasure of having young people on work experience with me this week to keep me on my toes. It has been a busy week. In 2022, the previous Government allocated £560 million over three years to fund the national youth guarantee, ensuring that young people aged between 11 and 18 in England had access to regular clubs and activities, something to do after school, experiences away from home and opportunities to volunteer. As part of that, we allocated £300 million to youth facilities, improving and developing 300 of them. We established the National Citizen Service; this Government cancelled it, but more than 750,000 young people participated in it and it had a 93% satisfaction rate—something this Government could only dream of. As the Government well know, youth charities, like all employers, are subject to national insurance contributions, and the increase in contributions requires them to find additional funds. According to the National Council for Voluntary Organisations, these changes could cost the charity sector an additional £1.4 billion a year. For smaller charities with limited reserves and core funding, that will seem like an insurmountable challenge. As has been mentioned, this has led to a reduction in provision. Youth work has huge economic benefits. Research has shown that every £1 of Government investment in youth work has a social return on investment of between £3.20 and £6.40. Moreover, it saves around £500 million annually by preventing antisocial behaviour, knife crime and associated criminal justice costs. As a Government, we established the youth investment fund, which delivered £300 million over approximately three years. This Government scrapped it, and announced a new national youth strategy, which analysis shows cuts the funding by around £50 million each year over the life of the strategy. Yesterday, my hon. Friend the Member for Meriden and Solihull East (Saqib Bhatti) and I hosted a roundtable with those from the enrichment sector—it is great to see some of them in the audience today. The renewed national focus on enrichment is welcome and timely, but access to enrichment remains uneven, and Government funding cuts will only make that worse. We agree with those we heard from yesterday that the challenge is how we ensure that fantastic youth enrichment provision is accessible for as many young people as possible across the country. As others have said, enrichment is not an optional extra; it is a vital way in which young people learn fundamental life skills that often cannot be taught in traditional learning environments. I have seen some of the Duke of Edinburgh work in one of my local schools, with pupils putting up tents and camping. The Duke of Edinburgh’s award celebrates a milestone next week—70 years—and I am sure that many Members will be there to support that tradition.

Those opportunities allow many young people to enjoy camping—unlike the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson), who is not really a camper. Those who get the thrill of camping for the first time will always want to do it. My oldest boy did it, and now he goes camping every summer with his wife and the children. That is just an example of people acquiring something that lasts.

I thank the hon. Gentleman for one of his famous interventions. I am pleased that his son enjoys camping; I am not sure I am as sold on a camping holiday in this weather. He is right that it teaches young people key life skills that they can take forward for the rest of their lives. We all know the crisis we have, with more than 1 million young people not in education, employment or training. A good enrichment offer is a key way of reversing the alarming increase we have seen in recent years. The Government’s national youth strategy has some noble aims, including halving the participation gap in enrichment activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers, and giving half a million more young people access to a trusted adult outside of the home by 2035—I believe passionately in the power of role models, and I would love to go on about it longer, but I am looking at the time, so I will not. The warm words in the strategy are all well and good, but the funding must match them. Governments of all colours make big announcements, but the funding does not always match them. That is my concern: that the money being put forward is not enough to deliver the objectives. Government can often be siloed, so I hope that the Minister will also commit to making a concerted effort to ensure that policies and programmes across Government are put into practice in a more holistic and strategic way in this area. There ought to be an understanding of the need for funding pots and programmes for enrichment to complement one another, to work in tandem, and not to duplicate efforts or to compete with other Departments’ aims. Will the Minister therefore urge colleagues in the Department for Education to reverse the 22% cut to school PE funding and reverse the cut to the opening schools facilities fund, which would help many youth clubs to have somewhere to provide their services?

I call the Minister, hopeful that Harpreet Uppal will have a couple of minutes at the end to wind up.

Of course. It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Ms McVey. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield (Harpreet Uppal) on securing this important debate, and I am grateful to all those who contributed to what is an important conversation. We heard some brilliant contributions that highlighted just how important it is to support young people across the country. This generation is the most connected but most isolated one, and our national youth strategy aims to tackle that and the challenges associated with it. Members made a number of points on spaces, places and funding, which I will address throughout my contribution. A specific point put to me was around the importance of providing streamlined funding, particularly access to both revenue and capital funding. The Government have merged some funding regimes, and I am happy to write to Members with more details. The shadow Minister and my hon. Friend the Member for Harlow (Chris Vince) not only made important points but paid tribute to their work experience students. I add my thanks to those students for their contributions. The hon. Member for Keighley and Ilkley (Robbie Moore) put two specific points to me, including one about GoWild Outdoors in his constituency and the changes to school sport. I understand the concerns about the decision to replace the existing PE and sport premium for primary schools; however, despite sustained investment through that premium for more than a decade, fewer than half of children get the 60 active minutes a day recommended by the chief medical officer, and persistent inequalities remain for girls and people from disadvantaged communities. That is simply not good enough. The Government are determined to close those gaps in participation, which is why we have committed more than £1 billion in funding for PE and school sport over the next three years. That includes £580 million for a new PE and school sport partnerships network to replace the PE and sport premium, alongside investment in improvements to school sport facilities and transitional support for primaries. That change includes secondary and primary, and capital and revenue funding. I am happy to meet the hon. Gentleman to discuss that further, if it would be helpful. He also asked about the overnight levy. That policy is led by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, but of course, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Treasury have significant interest in it, and I work closely with my ministerial colleagues. The consultation on that is yet to be published, but I will happily write to him on that point in due course. I will now take the opportunity to celebrate the 70th anniversary of the Duke of Edinburgh’s award. Over the last seven decades, the award has changed the lives of countless young people; I saw that in action and at first hand when I visited Barnsley academy in Kendray in my constituency. We know the transformative power the award can have on young people: learning new skills, developing confidence and making friends are just a few of the benefits of completing the DofE award. I am delighted to be attending the parliamentary reception for the 70th anniversary next week; it is great to see that some representatives join us today. I thank the teachers, volunteers and all those who have worked hard to achieve the award across the country. Just a few months ago, I visited Centrepoint just outside of the centre of Barnsley, which is working with homeless young people on their Duke of Edinburgh’s awards. As the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) referenced, more than six million hours of volunteering is phenomenal, and just one of the contributions made by the Duke of Edinburgh’s award. As the Minister with responsibility for youth, I am proud of the conversations that the Government have had and continue to have with young people. Last month, I signed the power of youth charter to demonstrate our commitment to youth empowerment. That sends the clear message that we are listening and will act, and illustrates the importance that we place on youth voice, which was raised by a number of Members. We always said that our youth strategy would be not about young people, but made with and by young people. We wanted to know what mattered, and we listened. The voices of young people are right at the heart of the decisions that we made. The Government’s landmark national youth strategy is ambitious, long term and cross cutting. “Youth Matters” radically transforms how we work, to give every young person somewhere to go, someone who cares and a community that they feel part of. We have been clear about what that means: by 2035, we want to halve the participation gap in enriching activities between disadvantaged young people and their peers, and for half a million people to have access to a trusted adult outside their home. We have the ambition to halve the participation gap because we do not believe that a young person’s background should determine the opportunities that they get. We are fiercely committed to breaking down barriers, and are working across Government and with partners to make that a reality.

On closing that gap, research shows that for every £1 a year spent on a young person in a place such as Stoke-on-Trent or Kidsgrove, £10 a year is spent on a young person in inner London. I welcome all the investment via the national youth strategy, but how can we use the strategy to close the gap, to make sure that we lift young people from Stoke and Staffordshire up to those levels?

I totally appreciate my hon. Friend’s point. Under the previous Government, my area of Barnsley saw some of the worst cuts in the country, but despite that, the then Labour council invested in the youth zone and free transport for under-18s. I know that the challenges in Stoke will be similar to those in Barnsley, and of course there will be pockets of deprivation in London and other areas. We want to ensure that every young person, whatever their postcode, gets the support they need. Obviously, this is in the context of 73% cuts in England over the last so many years. That will not be reversed overnight, but we have an ambition to work towards reversing it. The strategy is backed by £500 million of DCMS funding. That will include funding for new builds, refurbishments and capital equipment, so that organisations can improve or expand their services. I have seen the impact of schemes like that, from the reopening of the Double Six Youth Club in Sheffield, to Eloquent Dance in Birmingham. The second ambition is increasing access to trusted adults—my hon. Friend the Member for Hertford and Stortford (Josh Dean) spoke about this—because we know how important it is for young people to have someone in their corner. As the Minister responsible for youth but also civil society and sport, I often hear about the fantastic work of youth workers, volunteers, sports coaches and many others. I have also seen that at first hand in places such as East Bierley Community Sports Association in Kirklees, which I visited a few weeks ago and which is just down the road from the constituency of my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield. In the interest of time, I will not mention any more, but I have seen so many. However, as many as one in five young people still does not have a trusted adult outside the home to talk to. We want to change that. Our recent joint investment with the King’s Trust of £10 million will expand young people’s access to a trusted adult. That money will be matched with corporate and philanthropic investment, bringing the total to £20 million to build young people’s skills and tackle youth unemployment. We will follow that with £15 million, over the next three years, for youth workers, volunteers and others who work closely with young people. An additional £5 million will help organisations to spread good practice, improve data and build strong local partnerships. Expanding enrichment is a key aim of our strategy. Young people have told us that they want more in-person opportunities, whether that be through arts and culture, sports, volunteering, or being outdoors in nature. We know that those experiences are invaluable for wellbeing, belonging, school attendance and future employment opportunities. That is especially true for disadvantaged young people. Those who attend after-school clubs achieve, on average, a two-points-higher total score in their key stage 2 assessments in English, maths and science at the end of primary school. That is the value of enriching activities, and that is why the Government recently published the enrichment framework to give every school and college the tools to offer high-quality enrichment. That framework is for all pupils, to ensure that access is not limited because of who someone is or where they are from. Building on the enrichment framework, my Department will invest £22.5 million to support up to 400 schools to meet the benchmarks. That will help them to listen to the pupils in their school about what they really want, and to act on it. We will work with schools in some of the most deprived areas of England to ensure that where young people live is not a barrier anymore. We have also announced Every Child Can—an investment of £132.5 million of dormant assets funding to fund opportunities across the five key categories of enrichment. That includes ensuring that every school has access to a library. When talking about enrichment, I think of organisations in my own area, such as the Barnsley Youth Choir, which is giving hundreds of young people amazing experiences, opportunities and skills, Beat the Street, whereby primary schools get together and get kids more active, or our brilliant new Base71 Youth Zone. A number of Members, including my hon. Friend the Member for York Central (Rachael Maskell), spoke about cross-Government work. We have a Young Futures ministerial group. Delivering for young people is a shared responsibility; we are not doing that alone. Across Government, we are working with incredible partners that are delivering on the ground and galvanising action—uniformed youth organisations, the Duke of Edinburgh’s award of course, and many others. We are working closely with local authorities and developing a network of up to 50 youth hubs. We have already opened eight pilot hubs, and the learnings will inform the remainder of the programme. That includes how we align with other Government initiatives such as the Young Futures panels and the Department for Work and Pensions youth hubs. My hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield, my hon. Friend the Member for Croydon East (Natasha Irons), who of course is the chair of the all-party group, and my hon. Friend the Member for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan), as well as others, spoke about strengthening the statutory duty on local authorities to provide a sufficient youth offer. We are already taking steps to address that. Our local outcomes framework outlines key priorities and accountability for local government. We will explore reviewing the statutory duty, but we must ensure that any change is properly funded in order to empower, not burden, local authorities. Every time a young person discovers their passions and pushes themselves outside their comfort zone, that has an impact far beyond the youth club or sports pitch. It is a step towards them becoming a more resilient, positive and connected adult, and it is a powerful reminder of our nation’s story—one that has produced world-famous musicians, actors, athletes, inventors and entrepreneurs. They all started as a young person who was told that they could reach their potential. This Government are ensuring that young people hear that same message again. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Huddersfield and all other Members who contributed to the debate.

I thank everyone who took part in the debate—I also join the hon. Member for Twickenham (Munira Wilson) in saying that I am not a camper either. I thank the Minister and her team for everything that they do, and all youth workers as well. Question put and agreed to. Resolved, That this House has considered the National Youth Strategy and youth enrichment.

Sitting adjourned.