Youth services

That this House recognises the deep impact that the last decade of austerity has had on local youth services; notes the YMCA's findings that youth services have been cut by £1.1bn nationally since 2010/11, which is a real-terms fall of 74 per cent, and that the annual spend per head for 5-to-17-year-olds in England plummeted from £158 in the 2010-11 financial year to just £37 in 2020-21; further notes the cuts to local councils and that local authorities such as Wakefield have had real-term funding cuts of 40.4% since 2015-16, which have added further pressure to services which support young people; expresses its alarm that Hemsworth constituency in the Wakefield District has had nearly £400 per pupil cut from school budgets; praises the comments on this issue made by local people such as Codie Smith, a pro-boxer in Hemsworth, who has called on Parliament and local councillors to do more for young people; believes that the lack of opportunities and low social mobility for young people fuels anti-social behaviour; and urges the Government to rethink its strategy for funding youth services.