MPs attack Citizen Service costs

23 June 2011 Last updated at 01:20 GMT David Cameron met teenagers on a team-building course during the 2010 election campaign The cost of the government's National Citizen Service volunteering scheme is not justified at a time when youth services are being cut, MPs have said.

The education select committee said in a report that services for young people faced "disproportionate" cuts.

It estimated that offering NCS to all young people would cost more yearly than 2009-10 youth services spending.

The government said the money for the NCS was extra and it was consulting on a new vision for youth services.

The programme has been championed by Prime Minister David Cameron as a type of "non-military national service" to encourage young people from different backgrounds to mix.

It aims eventually -through external providers - to offer every young person in England the opportunity to attend a two-week residential, outdoor activities course and to spend a further three or four weeks working on local community projects.

'Significant cuts'

But the committee, chaired by Conservative MP Graham Stuart, said the current cost for pilot schemes was ?1,182 per young person - whereas Germany provided an entire year's volunteering for just ?1,228 per participant.

"We do not see how the government can justify spending the same for a six-week programme," the MPs said.

The government has dedicated ?13m for the scheme in 2011, and ?37m in 2012, aiming for 10,000 participants this summer and 30,000 next year.

But the select committee estimated that, given the government's aim to offer the scheme to all teenagers, if half chose to participate, the total cost could amount to ?355m per year.

That is more than the ?350m spent in total on youth services in 2009-10, the MPs pointed out.

"Given the degree to which year-round youth services are being cut, and in light of our concerns about cost and practical implementation, we cannot support the programme's continued development in its current form," the report concluded.

It said there had already been "very significant, disproportionate" cuts to local authority youth services, ranging from 20% to 100% of spending.

It cited David Wright, the chief executive of the Confederation of Heads of Young People's Services (CHYPS), who spoke of a "double whammy" to youth services, with ring-fencing removed from previously allocated funding sources, in addition to overall cuts of 28% over the next four years to local authority budgets.

'Dramatic reductions'

Dedicated youth-services funding has been amalgamated with other grants into an Early Intervention Grant - which itself is 10% less than the total of the funding streams it replaced, the MPs said.

They cited a survey by the CHYPS in February 2011, which found that cuts to youth services averaged 28% and some local authorities were cutting 70%, 80% or 100% of their services.

Cuts totalling more then ?100m were planned by March 2012, and open-access youth clubs and centres were hardest hit, the study found.

The committee's report also cited a Department for Education document which said local authorities in many areas were cutting youth projects in favour of protecting early-years and child-safeguarding services.

The budget reductions "may be both dramatic and long lasting", the MPs said.

"The government's lack of urgency in articulating a youth policy or strategic vision is regrettable, is compounding an already difficult situation, and should not be allowed to continue," the committee said.

The MPs recommended that the National Citizen Service scheme be turned into an accreditation scheme for existing youth-development and volunteering programmes, and that the funds earmarked for it be diverted into general, year-round youth services.

In response to the report, Children's Minister Tim Loughton said he was "disappointed" that the committee had "sought to undermine the NCS pilots before they have even got off the ground".

It said the funding for the scheme was "additional money for youth services, not an alternative to them".

"Local areas need to think more creatively about how they do this and consider what more the voluntary and community sector can provide," he said, adding that the government was consulting on a "new vision" for youth services to be published in the autumn.

He also said it was "a shame" that the committee did not hear from many young people, including those who took part in the NCS, who "universally said they benefited enormously from the unique experience".

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PM's 'bad dads' attack criticised

19 June 2011 Last updated at 16:09 GMT Mr Cameron said fathers who abandon their children should have "shame heaped upon them" David Cameron has been accused of "ripping away" support from single parents, just hours after making a stinging attack on absent fathers.

The prime minister said "runaway dads" should be "stigmatised" in the same way as drink-drivers.

But charity Gingerbread said government proposals to charge those needing state help to obtain child maintenance would make life harder for lone parents.

Ministers said they wanted to encourage parents to settle their own affairs.

'Beyond the pale'

Writing in the Sunday Telegraph to mark Father's Day, the prime minister said fathers who failed to "financially and emotionally" support their children must face consequences.

"It's high time runaway dads were stigmatised and the full force of shame was heaped upon them," he said.

"They should be looked at like drink-drivers, people who are beyond the pale.

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His government is making it much easier for deadbeat dads to run from their responsibilities”

End Quote Yvette Cooper Shadow home secretary "They need the message rammed home to them, from every part of our culture, that what they're doing is wrong; that leaving single mothers, who do a heroic job against all odds, to fend for themselves simply isn't acceptable."

But Fiona Weir, from Gingerbread - which campaigns on behalf of single parents - criticised the prime minister.

"David Cameron is right that single mums - and indeed single dads - do a heroic job, but those same parents are about to have government support ripped away from them if they need help securing child maintenance payments from their child's other parent," she said.

"If the prime minister really wants to support heroic single parents, he must withdraw these damaging proposals which would limit access to the CSA [Child Support Agency]."

Since 2008 - when the much-maligned CSA was effectively axed - the Child Maintenance and Enforcement Commission (CMEC) has collected money from non-resident parents.

But earlier this year, the government said it wanted to encourage separating couples to organise their own payments and was proposing to charge those who did not for accessing the services of the CMEC.

They would be required to pay an upfront fee of ?100 (or ?50 if they claim benefits), plus an ongoing charge of between 7% and 12% of the money paid.

'Lack of understanding'

For Labour, shadow home secretary Yvette Cooper said Mr Cameron's words were "hollow".

"His government is making it much easier for deadbeat dads to run from their responsibilities by charging mums to use the Child Support Agency," she said.

Erin Pizzey: "There is a vast mass of women equally as feckless as the men"

Mr Cameron also said he was determined to introduce tax breaks for married couples - despite Liberal Democrat opposition to the idea.

But Ms Cooper said such a policy would "reward runaway dads who remarry".

Erin Pizzey, the founder of the first UK's women's refuge, said Mr Cameron was displaying a lack of understanding about the reality of family break-ups.

"There are a lot of reasons why [fathers are] not with their children... not least that women won't let them," she said.

Ms Pizzey said it was wrong to single out men, adding: "There is a vast mass of women who are equally as feckless as the men and we never talk about them."

Bob Greig, from the single parenting website Only Dads, agreed that the prime minister's argument was "too simplistic".

"There are many cultural, employment, financial, [and] legal issues as well which prevent dads from having a full-on relationship with their children post-separation and divorce," he told the BBC.

"Why that isn't recognised in his article in the Telegraph I just don't know."

The Camerons have three children, Nancy, Arthur and Florence - who was born last August.

Their first child, Ivan, who was born profoundly disabled and needed 24-hour care, died in February 2009.

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