Clause 6
Education and Inspections Bill
4:45 pm
Phil Hope (Parliamentary Under-Secretary, Department for Education and Skills; Corby, Labour)
I would not like to guess the sport that the hon. Gentleman participated in when he was at school—perhaps it was draughts or chess. We are ranging wide across the piece when we start to think about designing out crime when we develop houses, local estates and so on. In my former role as a Minister in the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister, I did a great deal on the issue of creating communities that are cleaner, safer and greener, and I am pleased to say that there are huge extra resources, particularly in the most disadvantaged areas, to ensure that that is the case. In other words, communities that help in such a way are being designed. However, those points are not covered by clause 6 so I will not stray too far from the task before us.
Why do not many young people participate in the activities that we are describing? We know that young people experience a variety of barriers in accessing positive activities. Although sufficient provision is essential to participation, other factors such as a lack of information about what is available or the unsuitability of the provision are often the reasons behind young people’s non-participation.
We know that young people wish to do more. Some 19,000 young people responded to the Department’s recent consultation on the Green Paper, “Youth Matters”, a huge response reflecting the importance that we place on the matter. Of those young respondents, 71 per cent. said that they would do up to four hours of activities, including sport, in their spare time each week if they had the opportunity. Those figures and the sheer volume of young people who responded to the consultation attest to the importance that young people, as well as members of the Committee, attach to the matter.
I was pleased to hear that my hon. Friend the Member for City of Durham carried out her own consultation with young people. I dare say that other members of the Committee and Members of Parliament should follow her example and go out and talk to young people and listen to their views, so that they can play their part as MPs in responding to the needs of young people.
By giving strategic responsibility to local authorities to ensure that young people have access to sufficient provision, clause 6 will ensure that a single responsible body will review access and act as commissioner, facilitator and, where appropriate, provider to ensure that young people can benefit from participation in positive leisure time activities.
The hon. Member for Bognor Regis and Littlehampton mentioned the youth opportunities card; the clause is wide enough to embrace that. He is right to say that it is being piloted and that we will consider the outcomes of those pilots before we go forward. The legislation will allow the youth opportunities card to be delivered by local authorities if they wish to use that mechanism.