A few days ago Children & Young People Now (CYPN) website published an article based on the research that has been carried out by the YMCA. So according to this article Wales’s is providing £91 per head for youth services while in England the figure is £45. The YMCA researchers found that the lowest regional spending in Wales which in North Wales is £85 which still exceeds the highest local spending in England of £78 in central London. The research for young people in England and Wales can be found from the YMCA website here which is entitled “YMCA calls for a strategic vision for young people as youth service spending revealed as significantly less per child in England than in Wales.” One of the pieces explains that

In 2010/11 in England the total was £1.46bn and in 2021/22 it had reduced to £392m. The trajectory of youth services expenditure in Wales, however, is more encouraging, as despite cuts of 23% since 2010/11 and a 4% real-terms drop in 2020/21 as lockdowns hindered delivery, funding overall increased 12% this year to an annual total of £41.3m.

CYPN also refers to this text and the link to the Government statement.

But based on Freedom of Information Act responses, the charity found that in a third of cases spending is being increased for the Holiday Activities and Food Programme, rather than year-round support.

So it seems very clear that we need our English MPs to focus on this theme and raise their concerns for our locations!