The Conservative Government will invest £500 million in youth centres and high-quality services for young people to ensure that they have safe and inspiring places to go outside of school.
We believe that young people should have somewhere to go outside of school with high quality services and activities where they can interact with other young people in their communities. We are investing in a wide range of youth centres and services including, building new youth zones, smaller youth clubs, as well as refurbishing existing youth spaces. We will also invest in activities, services and the workforce these spaces need to inspire young people outside of the school day. By giving all young people the opportunity to participate in activities, this will give them a sense of belonging, more confidence and empower them to do whatever they want in life.
Young people spend a significant proportion of their time outside of school and need somewhere safe to go during this time. Providing somewhere to go in their local communities and a range of activities will give young people the chance to develop their talents and interests outside of school.
We want young people all over the country to have access to high quality services and activities outside of school hours. Young people should have the opportunity to play sport with others in their community, tap into drama and music or have an environment where they can go and be inspired by others. We are providing £500 million of investment to refurbish existing youth centres, building new youth clubs and mobile units for harder to reach areas. This see up to 60 new youth centres, 100 new mobile facilities and 360 youth centres upgraded, reaching as many young people in both urban and rural areas in England – as part of our wider commitment to improving social infrastructure and quality of life in towns.
The Conservatives introduced a Youth Charter, giving young people a voice on the issues they care most about and helping them to become active members of their community. The Charter is being developed with youth sector organisations and young people and will set out how we can help them to achieve their full potential and give them a stronger voice on the issues they care about.
In contrast Labour voted against the local government finance settlement, which increased funding for councils that could have been spent on youth services. 223 Labour MPs shamelessly voted against giving councils a real-terms increase in funding to £46.4 billion to provide quality local services. Youth unemployment rose by 45 per cent under the last Labour government– meaning young people were not getting the skills they need to get on in life. In February to April 1997 there were 652,000 unemployed 16 to 24 year olds. By February to April 2010, this had risen by 287,000 to 939,000.
Image : By SCA Svenska Cellulosa Aktiebolaget - Flickr: Teens sharing a song, CC BY 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=15743144
