General Question Time – in the Scottish Parliament at on 23 January 2025.
Ben Macpherson
Scottish National Party
To ask the Scottish Government how it is supporting and investing in youth work. (S6O-04237)
Graeme Dey
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government is committed to supporting youth work and continues to fund it in a variety of ways. The block grant funding that is provided to local authorities affords them significant autonomy in allocating resources for youth work, to meet the specific needs of young people in their local areas. The Scottish Government, across portfolios, also directly funds a range of youth work initiatives, projects and programmes. Those initiatives aim to support diverse youth work models, promote partnership working and enhance the quality of youth work, supporting the best possible outcomes for the young people of Scotland.
Ben Macpherson
Scottish National Party
We know that youth work, in all its various forms, can be preventative investment that reduces spending in the long term. Examples include the work of the Citadel Youth Centre, the Spartans Community Foundation and others in my Constituency.
I recognise all the good work that the Scottish Government is funding and appreciate the pressures on the public finances, but will the Minister say more about how the Scottish Government is working across portfolios and with other organisations to consider additional support for youth work as part of the response to the recent youth violence summit, particularly in areas such as Edinburgh, where, unfortunately, youth violence that is perpetrated by a very small minority has become more prevalent recently?
Graeme Dey
Scottish National Party
The Scottish Government also values youth work highly, and I agree that working in collaboration helps to achieve positive outcomes for young people. As I mentioned in my initial answer, the Scottish Government continues to fund a range of projects and programmes that directly support youth work, in addition to funding the local government block grant. Included in that is £20 million from phase 6 of our cashback for communities fund, which has supported 29 partnership organisations. I say to Ben Macpherson that, so far, the spend in the Edinburgh local authority area in phase 6 is circa £700,000.
On the youth violence summit that Ben Macpherson referred to, we are considering what more can be done to prevent and reduce harm from violence. A report on the key themes that were raised is being produced and a further cross-party discussion is intended.
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