Spending on youth services drops by 36%

Following a Freedom of Information request, BBC Radio 4 reports that the amount spent by councils on services for young people fell, in real terms, from £1.2bn in 2010-2011, to £791m in 2012-2013. The decision to move responsibility for young people from the Department for Education to the Cabinet Office was a ‘retrograde step’, according to Conservative MP Tim Loughton, who was Children’s Minister up to September 2012.

Fiona Black, Chief Executive of the National Youth Agency, was quoted as saying:

‘We are going to see more young people in the criminal justice system, more young people who perhaps aren’t engaging in education. The cost of that to taxpayers is enormous compared to the very small investment in youth services.’