Tim Loughton MP
Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Children and Young Families)
Sanctuary Buildings
Great Smith Street
London
SW1P 3BT

04 November 2011

Dear Tim,
I am writing to you concerning urgent action that needs to be taken to ensure the continued provision of high quality youth services.
Youth services are faced with some of the biggest cuts to any public service. A survey by the Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services in February 2011 found youth service cuts averaged 28% but some local authorities were cutting services by 70%, 80% and even 100%. In Haringey, for example, 8 of 13 youth clubs have now closed and the youth service budget is being cut by a further 75%.
I believe the cuts to youth services are unlikely to save the taxpayer money. Youth services are a cost effective way to change young people's lives, with intervention in youth centres and clubs reducing the number of young people in need of highly targeted intensive and expensive services later on. The Audit Commission estimated that a young person in the criminal justice system costs the taxpayer over £200,000 by the age of 16, but one who is given support to stay out costs less than £50,000.
Upon the release of the recent report Ending gang and youth violence, Theresa May MP acknowledged that "gang and youth violence is not a problem that can be solved by enforcement alone". Adequately funded youth services are essential in offering young people an alternative to gang culture.
With these points in mind, I ask you to provide a dedicated ring-fenced funding stream for youth services to help maintain youth service provision, and for the youth services element of the Early Intervention Grant to be clearly specified.
I further encourage you to consider any other measures to protect youth services as a matter of urgency, for example, diverting the additional funding currently earmarked for the National Citizen Service to all year round service provision.
This summer we saw just how important front line youth services are to communities. Every young person should be able to access to high quality youth work, delivered by trained professionals, to help them play an active and positive part in their community. Making youth and community workers redundant is not just a wasteful loss of skill and expertise, but will have a serious impact on the resilience of communities, at a time of record youth unemployment.
I trust you will consider my suggestions carefully.

Yours sincerely,

Caroline Lucas, MP, Brighton Pavilion