§ Mr. HendryTo ask the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry what funding programmes are operated by808W her Department to support voluntary organisations working with young people; and what the level of support has been in each of the last three years. [120533]
§ Ms Hewitt[holding answer 20 June 2003]: The Department does not operate any funding programmes aimed solely at supporting voluntary organisations working with young people and, therefore, the specific data requested about funding for such organisations are not available. However, the Department does support more general programmes that include an element of support for organisations working with young people, including those described later.
The Small Business Service (SBS) promotes entrepreneurship among young people specifically by providing funding to the following programmes which are run by not-for-profit organisations:
Shell LiveWIRE aims to encourage young people (aged 16 to 30) to consider starting a business by providing information and advice about the initial stages of starting up in business. SBS provides funding to support the LiveWIRE inquiry hotline service and to meet the costs of supplying business kits to young people; £65,000 was provided in 2001, £140,000 in 2002 and £140,000 is being provided in 2003; andSBS also supports Young Enterprise, by co-sponsoring the Young Enterprise's Entrepreneurship Masterclass and Graduate Programmes and their Innovation Awards with funding of £56,000 in 2001–02 and £250,000 in 2002–03. Young Enterprise aims to inspire and equip young people to learn and succeed through enterprise by giving them the opportunity to gain personal experience of how business works.Although it does not specifically target voluntary organisations working with young people, the Small Business Service's Phoenix Fund provides funding to voluntary and other organisations which help encourage entrepreneurship in disadvantaged communities and under-represented groups throughout England.
Additionally, the DTI is one of the main funders of the Regional Development Agencies, which in turn, provide support to a wide range of voluntary organisations, including those working with young people; this support contributes towards delivery of the RDAs' regeneration, skills development and other objectives.