§ 6. Mr. Phil Hope (Corby)If he will outline his plans for the youth service. [64041]
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mr. George Mudie)The Government see the youth service not only as carrying out its traditional tasks, but as constituting a vital partner in our vision of ending social exclusion and widening participation. A paper on the future of the youth service is in preparation, and will be available for consultation soon.
§ Mr. HopeI thank my hon. Friend for his reply. The paper is eagerly awaited throughout the country.
Is my hon. Friend aware that youth workers in Corby play an important and effective role in working in the community with the young people who experience the greatest problems—young people with problems related to drug abuse, young people who are perpetrators and victims of crime and young people who have left school with no qualifications? The youth service plays a critical role in helping those young people to return to the community. Will my hon. Friend devote all his energies and ability to giving the service new purpose and new leadership, so that it continues to be open to all young people and can target its resources and expertise on those who are most disadvantaged and most alienated from their communities?
§ Mr. MudieI thank my hon. Friend for what he has said, and congratulate the youth workers in Corby. As the House knows, last year we conducted and published the first national audit of youth service work. The details varied: some authorities spent just under £300 per youngster in their areas, but the amount fell as low as under £20.
I urge local authorities and those responsible for the youth service to see ending social exclusion, widening participation and returning youngsters to either education or work as a vital part of their job. They need not necessarily wait for the consultation paper, or for anything else to happen; they should get on with the job of refocusing and helping youngsters.
§ Mr. Donald Gorrie (Edinburgh, West)One obstacle in the way of the youth service in my part of the country is the Government's delay in producing national guidelines or an approved scheme to deal with the registration of youth workers and youth organisations, as proposed by Lord Cullen after his inquiry into the disastrous events in Dunblane. Can the Minister give us any idea of when the Government might introduce either United Kingdom or separate English and Scottish arrangements enabling local authorities to work together to produce an approved scheme that will allow more youth workers to be properly vetted?
§ Mr. MudieVetting is a problem. I hear many requests from the youth service for statutory provision, but I am at pains to tell youth service workers and authorities—including local authorities—not to wait for legislation. They know the task that the Government have placed at the top of the agenda: ending social exclusion, an aim that is shared throughout the House. I urge local authorities, notwithstanding their wish for statutory backing, to get on with the job even before the publication of the consultation paper.
Given a record revenue support grant settlement and a very good standard spending assessment for education, there is little excuse for any local authority not to take the youth service seriously. I find it strange that local authorities and others who say that they approve of participation are not strengthening and refocusing their youth services.