How she expects proposals in the "Youth Matters" green paper will provide incentives for young people to engage in positive activities.

We want to put more power into the hands of young people to give them more say. We will support local authorities to pilot opportunity cards to enable young people to take part in more positive activities, and we will provide a local opportunity fund, backed by a capital fund, to be spent in conjunction with young people. We will ensure that provision meets national standards and responds to local demand by placing a statutory duty on local authorities to secure access for young people to positive activities.

I am obliged to my right hon. Friend for that answer. I welcome the green paper "Youth Matters", but more importantly students in my Constituency welcome it. As she may know, I have carried out a consultation in four schools in my constituency, three of which I have visited and one of which has made a written submission. In the light of the enthusiasm that they have shown for the questions posed by this enlightened Green Paper, will she assure me that the avalanche of responses that she will have from my students will be fully taken into account?

Indeed I can. I thank my hon. Friend and colleagues throughout the House who did a great deal during the summer months to talk to young people and to give them the young people's version of the questionnaire, which I am sure has made a big difference to the number of responses. We have had about 3,000 responses so far from young people alone, and I expect that to double by the end of the consultation. Young people are broadly very positive about the proposals in the green paper and we shall certainly take their views into account when we give our response.

Will my right hon. Friend comment on the role that the Green Paper can play in engaging young people in services? The all-party group on youth affairs met for the first time in this Parliament yesterday and had a lively and interesting discussion with the young people who attended. One of the points that they raised was their hope that the Government's vision included not just demand-side subsidies through the opportunity card, but a commitment to supply-side investment in young people's services. Will my right hon. Friend reassure me that in the years ahead the Government will be making more of a priority of investment in young people's services?

The supply-side mechanisms that we have included in the green paper are important, precisely because they will require local authorities and others to take account of which activities young people decide to take up. So that has been an important ingredient. However, I take my hon. Friend's point that the supply side is also important. It is encouraging to note that during 2003–04 and 2005–06 local authorities increased their funding by 12 per cent. and the out-turn for 2003–04 was considerably higher even than the budget requirement. There is a growing recognition that more needs to be done to invest in activities and opportunities for young people, and local authorities are taking that very seriously.

What does the Minister think that it says about the Government's commitment to young people's participation in democracy that we invest in giving citizenship education to young people up to the age of 16, but deny them the right to use a vote until they are 18?

Clearly, there are many views on the issue. I spent some time discussing it with young people during the consultation process and there is considerable support for a vote at 16, but I do not think that anyone would want to introduce that until we could ensure that young people would use it in significant numbers. As we know, there are tremendous pressures on young people, and that is not top of the list for many 16 and 17-year-olds, although I accept that it is an issue for some. We will have to go down that route when we are sure that that is what the Majority of young people would not only want but use.