§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department for Culture, Media and Sport (Lord McIntosh of Haringey)My right honourable friend the Minister of State for the Arts (Estelle Morris) has made the following Written Ministerial Statement.
71WSI am pleased to inform the House that on 5 May I formally issued the New Opportunities Fund (NOF) with policy directions in connection with the new Lottery Young People's Fund. We announced our intention to establish such a fund, initially funded with £200 million from NOF's balances, in the National Lottery funding decision document published last July. It was specified as a new NOF initiative in the New Opportunities Fund (Specification of Initiative) Order 2004, which came into force on 23 January 2004, following a resolution of each House of Parliament.
The policy directions I have issued to NOF will allow it to take forward development of the fund within a framework that supports key priorities for the Government and the devolved administrations. The 72WS focus of the Young People's Fund will be on projects promoting youth inclusion, specifically by providing facilities and activities, both after school and in holiday periods. In England, the development of the fund will be closely aligned with the aims and principles of the Green Paper, Every Child Matters, published last September. The fund will address the particular problems faced by young people at risk of social exclusion and provide a welcome new focus for lottery funding for this age group. Plans for the fund will be developed in consultation with representative groups of young people. Young people will also be involved in the design and development of project proposals, decisions on which projects are supported, and the implementation, management and evaluation of projects. I have placed a copy of the policy directions in the Libraries of both Houses.