Government asked to clarify position on National Citizen Service funding

18 Oct 2011 News

The Education Select Committee has asked the government to clarify whether it intends to stop funding National Citizen Service beyond its pilot years, and also to evaluate the potential impact of charging young people for National Citizenship Service.

The Education Select Committee has asked the government to clarify whether it intends to stop funding National Citizen Service beyond its pilot years, and also to evaluate the potential impact of charging young people for National Citizenship Service.

The Committee makes the request in a report this week which includes its criticism of National Citizen Service (NCS) made in June, and the government’s response to its concerns.

In the report, the government refutes the Committee’s concerns that NCS programmes will compete with other youth services for local authority funding, and that charges for NCS will deter young people from low income families.

In June, the Committee said it was “ominous” that minister for civil society Nick Hurd and the government adviser on NCS had suggested that funding for the project may not continue to be ring-fenced beyond the pilots.

In response, the government said it did not anticipate asking local authorities to provide funding towards NCS.

The government also rejected the Committee’s conclusion that charges could deter young people from low-income families participating in NCS: “We are encouraged to hear that half of the 2011 pilot providers are not charging at all, and that others have put in place bursary schemes,” said government.

However, the Committee has said it remains concerned about the potential impact of charging and has asked the government to evaluate and report back on what impact, if any, charging has on the participation as part of its evaluation of the 2011 pilot.

It also asks the government to clarify whether it will cease funding NCS beyond its pilot years, and set out what it has learnt from the 2011 pilot with regard to the take-up amongst 16-year olds and consequent likely costs in future years.

In its June report, the Committee raised concerns that the cost of NCS in 2011 was around £1,182 per young person for six weeks, compared with the German federal government spending £1,228 per young person for a whole year’s work-based volunteering programme.

The Committee also estimated that it would cost £355m per year to provide a universal offer of National Citizen Service, assuming a 50 per cent take up. This figure, said the Committee, outstripped the total £350m annual spend of local authorities on youth servies in 2009-10.