§ 21. Mr. Wainwrightasked the Minister of Education, if he will give the number of building plans for youth clubs which he has received from local authorities; and if he will state the number of clubs which have been erected and the number in course of erection.
§ Sir E. BoyleFinal approval has been given to 203 local education authority schemes and to 295 voluntary schemes due to start in the period 1960/63. Work has begun on 149 local education authority schemes and 250 voluntary schemes. It is estimated that about 60 of the local education authority and about 110 of the voluntary schemes have been completed.
§ Mr. WainwrightDoes the right hon. Gentleman realise that the Government are not spending sufficient money on this scheme? Has he noticed the annual report of the Surrey Association of Boys Clubs, which was commented on in the Daily Herald on 21st November? Does not he agree that it would be far better to spend more money on youth clubs so that we should have to spend less money on remand homes and detention centres?
§ Sir E. BoyleOne should not underrate what has been done. The Youth Service building programme provided for starts to a total value of £7½ million in the period 1960–63. There is outstanding work to the value of £3 million not yet finally approved, consisting mainly of local education authority projects. The 1963–64 Youth Service building programme provides for starts to the value of £4 million. I know that a good case may be made for more money being spent, but I think that the Youth Service gets a fairer percentage of the total educational building expenditure than was the case some time ago.