Labour pledges to revive youth services after years of decline

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2019/oct/07/labour-pledges-to-revive-youth-services-after-years-of-decline

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Labour would guarantee a nationwide network of youth clubs and other services for young people as a way of tackling problems such as mental ill-health and school exclusions, as well as involvement in knife and drug crime, the party has announced.

Announcing the pledge under the banner of Only Young Once, Labour said government figures showed the amount spent on youth services overall had fallen by more than £1bn a year in real terms since 2010-11, a drop of 73%.

According to data from the party more than 750 youth centres have closed since 2012, with 14,500 youth and community work jobs having been lost since 2008.

Labour’s promised investment in youth services would involve youth workers running extracurricular activities in areas such as art and sport, and assisting in areas such as mental healthcare, education, crime prevention and housing.

The aim would be to “prioritise community-based non-formal education that harnesses young people’s skills and empowers them to improve their own lives”, a Labour statement said.

Youth services have been disproportionately hit by almost a decade of squeezed public spending, particularly for local authorities, which are largely responsible for such provision.

The Labour-provided figures said that in 2010-11 the government spend on services for young people was £1.18bn, or £1.38bn when adjusted for current prices. The equivalent sum for 2019-20 is £375m, a real-terms fall of 73%.

With each young person we have just one chance to get it all right

MPs, charities and others have repeatedly warned of the link between fewer youth services and issues such as crime, especially knife attacks, as well as involvement in so-called county lines drugs gangs.

Formally announcing the new youth services pledge, Jeremy Corbyn was due to say: “The experiences of our youth can shape our entire future lives. Our young people should be supported in adolescence, a time that should be as full of wonder and as free from trouble as possible. With each young person we have just one chance to get it all right.

“The cuts to public services over the last decade have hit young people particularly hard. Life for young people in Britain today is far harder than it needs to be, and worse in many ways than it was for previous generations.”

The Labour leader added: “We need local youth services across the whole country. We need services that can meet the complex challenges faced by young people today. We need services that will nurture and empower young people to improve their own lives.”

The plan would involve a law being passed to put in place a “youth service guarantee”, with local authorities mandated to set up partnerships to deliver the services, and funded to do so.

It would also see young people represented on the national body for youth work, and on local planning bodies, with a statutory right to consultation for young people and their organisations.

Another element would involve recruiting and training “a cohort of young inspectors to empower young people to measure the quality and impact of the youth offer”.

The party has not immediately said how much the policy would cost, or how it would be financed, saying both would be outlined in its “fully costed manifesto” before the next general election.