16/01/2017 House of Commons

settlement. We will continue to do that. It is important that we

understand the challenges the house. I like to receive the honourable

gentleman up. You will have seen reports at the weekend that the

Prime Minister is no blaming family doctors for the problems within the

national Health Service. It is not that social care has been cut or

general practice funding has been cut. Are they going to come to the

house and make a statement or should we assume they are trying to avoid

scrutiny for the plans to stop the places within the National Health

Service? I have received notification of statements within

the coming days, but that is not amongst them. The point of order.

Last Tuesday, the Foreign Secretary was asked with the peer

participating in the summit in Paris between the Israeli- Palestinian

peace situation. He said that we would reinforce our message. Note

United Kingdom Minister was present. Could they ask are really good to

hear from the Foreign Secretary on this issue. Of what are the full

intentions offers department with regard to answering these questions?

In the short time, in the 20 months I have known the honourable

gentleman, I have come to rely on him. In response to last part of the

observations, what can be done? What facility recourse the errors? The

gentleman is we're all familiar with the concept of the question and the

location of the office in which he could submit such a question.

Knowing the honourable gentleman, I am sure he will be reasonable in

this matter. I should say, he has registered with force and it will be

near it. If the Foreign Secretary fuels that inadvertently the house

has been misled, it was not knowingly clear to me that they once

were inaccurate. It may have been due to a change of mind. The

honourable gentleman can go about his business with a glint in his eye

because he has put the point forcibly on the record. I am sure

the whole house would want to join me in paying tribute to the great

professor Anthony King. He was one of the great academics. He made a

huge contribution to public life. He helped educate thousands of young

people. Including yourself, Mr Speaker and many other members in

the house. You were the only one he was able to teach to get a first, if

I recall. I am extremely grateful. More particularly, I rather imagine

that Professor King, his widow, she will be especially appreciative when

she hears of the noble step that you have made. You will have noted his

death last week at the age of 82 after a stellar career and evocation

is one of the most distinguished scientists of his generation. He was

a brilliant teacher. He was an outstanding communicator, not least

on television. And he was a prodigious and eliminating greater.

Personally, I feel every day, a sense of gratitude for what he did

for me. I was probably a very awkward student 30 years ago. I

still am. He stuck with me and I am hugely grateful. The honourable

gentleman and I got to know each other at University 30 years ago and

in affectionate tribute to them, he was as noticeable today as he was

when he used to heckle me at University meetings in the 1980s.

But Professor King was a great man who did wonderful things in the

teaching of science within the United Kingdom. If if there are no

further points of order, wheat come to the presentation of Bill. Organ

donation deemed consent the. Friday, 24th of March. We will proceed to

the orders of the day. I call the Secretary of State for culture,

media and sport. I beg to move that the National assistance bill be read

for a second time. The National Citizen service is a huge success.

300 young people of taking part. Many of them say it has changed

their lives forever. For those who do not know, it is a summer

programme. There is no cost to parents who cannot afford it. It

involves 14-17 -year-olds. The additional strength is that that

brings together people from all backgrounds. There is a focus on

personal and social development, along with designing and delivering

a social action project. The Chief Executive says, we build bridges

across social divide and landowners to opportunity. We bring young

people together in common purpose to change their perspectives. Above

all, we try to assure them that life is not a spectator sport. I got some

sense of how transformational it is when I visited last summer and meet

representatives from Everton football club.

There was tremendous and easy as and I was told by several people that

they had to come friends with people from the same street who they had

not known previously. This is not a typical. An independent

investigation found the vast majority of NCS graduates leave

feeling more positive about people from dissimilar backgrounds and

about themselves. Expanding the horizons of young people, while also

including -- increasing social cohesion is a massive win-win. I

thank my right honourable friend, and may I take this opportunity of

Warmley thanking national citizens service East with the people they do

with young people in the -- the work they do with young people in the

Peter -- Peter Brook and stitch. May I thank them for the superb work

they do in helping young people develop -- Peterborough

constituency. Mr Speaker, I suspect this will be a theme of the debate

today that the experience we have all had in our constituencies with

NCS graduates, and the enthusiasm and sense of self belief that doing

the NCS project gives them and I commend my honourable friend for

taking his NCS graduate into his office, and I look forward to

hearing how it goes in the work experience. I have also been

impressed when I have visited the NCS in Bradford each year but I just

wonder what the Minister 's response was to the NEL report about the

national citizenship service, saying it had not actually met its

participation targets in six years, and was working out at an estimated

?863 for every youngster taking part. What is the government's

response to the NAL's report on the NCS? I welcome the report because I

think it is important with any project of this type that we

understand the value for money and what is being achieved, and I think

my honourable friend will recognise I am sure that this was a very

ambitious target of which we have made great success in getting

towards but there are still more to do, and that is why this bill is so

important today so that more of the young people, such as the ones he

has met in his constituency, can have the chance to do NCS. I thank

my right honourable friend forgiving way. Will she join with me in

welcoming the over 3000 people from Lancashire have had the benefit of

the NCS. I saw the figures today, some 71 from my constituency have

benefited from it. Has she like me been struck when she has visited the

programme is how well they have reached out to two groups

specifically? First those from lower-income families and secondly

and I think most importantly of all disabled constituents of ours, who

have been hugely included in these programmes and played a vital role

in making sure they are so successful. I agree with my

honourable friend and he will know that the NCS has an above average

success rate in reaching those hardest hit young people. We have

all seen where at an NCS project very young people from disadvantaged

backgrounds, the young people with disabilities, with young people with

more affluent backgrounds all working together with the common

purpose of achieving their social action project and making lifelong

friends. I think that work should be commended and I am very pleased to

know there were 71 people from his constituency over the summer and I'm

sure there will be more next summer. I will of course give way. Can I

concur with all the positive things been said about NSC so far. Will she

thank me for doing -- join me in thanking David Cameron, Lord blanket

and my friend Michael Lynagh scholar who has taken this from a small seed

into the great success we see today. I will of course join the honourable

friend, the former prime and Mr David Cameron is now chair of the

patrons board of NCS because this is a lasting legacy to the work he

achieved in government. The noble Lord blanket has been very

instrumental in this, and Michael Lynagh scholar who I already

referred to, the Chief Executive, have done great work, let us

remember this is from a standing start that we have 300,000 people go

through this programme and congratulations are definitely in

order. I thank the Minister to kindly giving way and I went along

to Taunton Deane at Somerset college and was so impressed by the

confidence of the children who had undertaken this course and the

skills it had given them. The Minister agree that in the state we

are trying to upscale our young people, even in terms of being

polite, that we ought to give a lot more promotion to this scheme

because it has such a great future? I honourable friend is right and

that is why we want to grow NCS as quickly as possible clearly in a way

that is sustainable and continues to be successful, because it is the

case, and we have all seen that sense of self-worth, that confidence

it gives young people, working in a team, the things I have seen, really

stretching targets, they have been achieved. That is a fantastic

testament to the scheme and something that we want to see more

people taking part in. Because NCS can break down barriers just the at

time and otherwise they might becoming drenched. 95% of

participants said that an NCS allow them to get to know people whom they

would not normally expect to meet, as referred to by my honourable

friend. While the programme itself is for young people, it is not only

the young who benefit. NCS participants have preferred and

distributed care packages for the parents of premature babies in East

Durham. They have raised funds for the Merseyside Huntington's disease

Association and built a sensory garden for the residents of a

Weymouth care home. Moreover, volunteering can become a lasting

habit. The NCS trust estimates that in the 16 months following the

summer programmes, the 2013 and 2014 graduates did an additional 8

million hours of volunteering in their communities. The government is

determined NCS should become even more popular and successful.

Adventure and inspiration to need to be underpinned by nuts and bolts and

this is what this bill does. There is quite a lot to give way to! Let

me do Corby and then I will go there, and two more. I am very

grateful to my right honourable friend forgiving way and I also

would like to congratulate everyone involved in delivering NCS in Corby

and East Northamptonshire. She has talked about a lot of the benefits

of the scheme, which he also agree with me that employee of a litter

you is one of the key things that comes out of the NCS scheme,

learning lots of skills that really transfer well into the workplace.

Absolutely, the soft skills that NCS can bring the young people makes

them much more employable and much more valuable in the workplace and

it is exactly what we want to see coming from NCS, amongst the many

other benefits. When I visited Somerset's National citizens service

scheme in Exmouth last summer I was struck by the number of students

from previous years had returned to be leaders and mentors in subsequent

years and I wonder if there is a way the Secretary of State might like

the sort of reward those who go back as leaders and perhaps give them

some sort of recognition for that further service? Mr Speaker, we have

announced a long-term review of young people in volunteering and my

honourable friend makes a very good point about the way that the NCS

scheme can encourage volunteering within future NCSs and a very

interesting suggestion. I now have to give way to my right honourable

friend from Dorset and then my honourable friend from Canterbury.

Would she agree with me that the example she has set out demonstrate

very clearly the continuing commitment of this government to the

big society, and that in contrast to some of the mischievous reporting of

some media that is wholly compatible with the promotion, the welcome

promotion, of the shared society by my right honourable friend the

primary to? I do agree with my right noble friend, this is part of a

country that works for everyone, a government that works for everyone,

and that shared society we all want to be part of. Can I give way to the

newly knighted honourable friend from Canterbury. Sir Julian Brazier.

We did that last week, you are very kind. I thought the honourable

gentleman would welcome an encore? Most grateful, Mr Speaker. I thank

my right honourable friend forgiving way. As a huge supporter of NCS,

locally as well as nationally, would she agree that the adventure content

is critical, and that we must be very careful that the continuing

erosion in the base for adventure in the form of residential centres up

and down the country does need to be looked at, both in terms of numbers

and equality, if the NCS is going to continue to deliver successfully? I

do agree with my honourable friend that the adventure side of the

programme is incredibly important, and it may mean that some of the

young people themselves get to be the dizzying heights of a night of

the realm like my honourable friend. That is also the fact that young

people are getting the opportunity to be away from home, to manage in

an outward bound situation, young people I met from Liverpool who had

camped just outside my own constituency in the Peak District

were astonished to discover just how the least some bits of the country

are, and also how cold they can be at times, although very beautiful of

course. So, Mr Speaker, the NCS bill is short and focused on establishing

transparent government arrangements. It works in conjunction with the

Royal Charter, which makes clear that the NCS is above partisan

politics. A draft of the charter was published as a command paper and

laden house when the Bill was published. I have published an

updated version today, which we are laying before both houses that Flex

commitment that the house made to the other place, that accompanied

the bill as a ghost through this house. The bill begins by outlining,

a new form and body that is designed to last. However we do not want to

lose the talent and experience of those who work in the current body,

also called the NCS trust, who have ever seen an organisation that is

the fastest-growing youth movement in this country for 100 years. So

the bill makes provision for the scheme for the transfer of staff,

property rights and liabilities from the current body to the NCS trust.

The bill allows the government to fill -- fund the NCS trust out of

money from Parliament. It also allows child trust participation

fees at variable rates in order to maintain the principle that anyone

can afford to take part. Presently the maximum fee is ?50, but many

participants pay no fee at all. If I could just finish this one point,

the Royal Charter requires the trust to insure equality of access to NCS

and of course I give way. I have visited the NCS in Fareham this

summer and 70 youngsters were engaged in a very stimulating

project, which was helping the community, and I applaud those who

have led the success of this scheme, including Michael Lynagh sister

passed support has been critical. In light of the findings of segregation

amongst my -- our young people, does my honourable friend agree that it

has been critical in enabling the breakdown of barriers so that those

from different classes, ethnicities and barriers can come together to

restore significant pride in our country? I agree with my honourable

friend and it is very important that we make the point here that money

should never be the barrier to that kind of social cohesion and

integration. We want to see young people from all backgrounds to have

the chance to participate in NCS and it must never be the case that money

is the barrier that stops them doing so. This has been a very impressive

cross-party advert for the NCS, and the precursor was in the form of

government under the Be Inspired programme that Lord blanket and

others were involved in, as was Gordon Brown. One of the things I

wanted to ask the right honourable lady is how much work will be done

in terms of successive programmes for the hundreds of thousands of

young people who will be going through the programme? I have the

declaration of interest, which is the riding -- one of the issues that

has come up is the need for mentoring to enable people to

continue their progress. I would be delighted if the honourable

Secretary of State could look into the programme, the new initiative

they are developing to recruit and maintain a million mentors to get

them in to organisations like NCS, and others? I know that my

honourable friend the Minister for civil Society has had discussions

with the honourable lady about precisely this point, and we are

looking at programmes, in terms of men touring, and of course there is

the eye will programme, a very important part of making sure that

there are places for young people to continue the work that NCS starts.

Mr Speaker, if I can go back to the issue of money, it is vital that any

expenditure of public money is transparent, accountable and proper.

The bulk of this bill is a series of measures on this front. The NCS

trust must prepare annual accounts, which the National Audit Office will

then audit, before they are laid before Parliament. At the start of

every year, the trust must publish an annual business plan, setting out

its strategic priorities and annual objectives. Then, the end of the

year, the trust will produce an annual report that will be laid

before Parliament. The report will outline how the trust has fulfilled

its priorities and main functions. Furthermore, the bill lists specific

metrics that the report must assess, these include value for money and

the extent to which NCS has mixed people from different backgrounds,

the point that my honourable friend from Fareham aid earlier. Mr

Speaker, the bill requires the trust to lead by the government in the

event that a breach of contract has serious financial consequences, and

a provider is in serious financial difficulty or a staff member commits

fraud. This will allow government to take rapid steps to minimise the

loss of public money. I support the bill, can she define

how valuable money will actually be gauged? My honourable friend will

know that the National Audit Office has the responsibility for looking

at value for money and we will look at the report to assess the value

for money issue. Borrowing an amendment in the House of Lords, the

trust must notify the government of any investigation into criminal

activity that could have serious consequences for NCS. Altogether

these measures will ensure that the NCS trust works efficiently,

effectively and transparently. The bill has one other purpose, which is

to advertise NCS. The bill allows HRC to pass on information about NCS

to the young people, parents or carers whose addresses it holds.

Receipt of a national insurance number is a rite of passage at the

age of 16 and we want this letter to arrive with an invitation to go on

NCS as well. As this government continues to work to build a shared

society that works for everyone, the NCS has already transformed hundreds

of thousands of lives. This bill can ensure that it can transform

millions. I beg to move. The question is that the bill be now

read a second time. So Steven Reid. I suspect we are not going to put

the House too much of a bun fight this afternoon. Labour is delighted

to pass the passage of this bill, so it is extremely welcome that the NCS

has strong support on all sides of the House. One small regret from the

Secretary of State's comments as she referred to a new draft of the Royal

Charter, which was only late two minutes before this debate began. We

have checked in the office and it is not yet available in hard copy. My

colleague has just received a hard copy. Mr Speaker, if I can

apologise, there has been a problem in the post room, but the document

is now available. I do apologise if he did not receive it for the

debate. I look forward to reading it and I am sure she will point out to

me if any of the points I raised have already been addressed in the

draft. I will talk before I get into the detail of the build just briefly

about the context of the bill if I may. The Secretary of State referred

to the Prime Minister's mention of the NCS in her speech about a shared

society. We need to make sure that Britain does not end up hollowed out

in the way the previous Prime Minister's big society did. That

broke down into little more than an attempt to replace paid

professionals with unpaid volunteers and that is a shame

an urgent need to reshape politics an urgent need to reshape

in this country around people, family, community and shared

institutions in the way that strengthens society and gives people

more direct power. But for all their talk, so far the government has

tended to do the opposite and not match the power of the words they

speak in this chamber. If we want people to feel they have a share in

society they need a voice to articulate what they are looking for

and the power to make it heard, whether that is through work in the

community or the services they use. In all that there is a really big

vision about national renewal based on sharing power, reshaping politics

and opening up opportunity to everybody. We already see the

potential of that in communities that have taken control in projects,

such as tenant led housing organisations, community land

trusts, energy regeneration to name just a few. The NCS can play a

People's' capacity to participate, People's' capacity to participate,

but the government 's approach, including what we have heard of the

shared society and that is not much yet, but so far from what we have

heard it is too narrow and too centralised to tear down the

barriers that frustrate a wider and deeper engagement by citizens. I

hope that will change. The NCS will achieve great things, but it could

achieve even more if the government understood the power and the

potential of communities freely cooperating for the common good and

allow that principle to influence and shape the direction of

government policy right across the board. I will move onto some of the

detail in the bill. Of it is not contentious, unless changes I have

not seen have suddenly inserted a whole raft of things, but I doubt

it. One of the most powerful aspects of the NCS is how it brings together

young people from a range of different backgrounds, the divisions

exposed by the EU referendum showed just how important it is that we

promote better integration right across society. I had the privilege

of meeting some young people in Croydon who were taking part in the

NCS. Their passion to make change real was tangible and moving. They

had learned a lot from living, working, eating and facing

challenges that other young people from very different backgrounds to

their own were doing. Here is an example of why it is important we

break those barriers. In some parts of urban Britain we see a problem

with violent gun crime. Mercifully the problem at national level is

small, but if you live in an affected neighbourhood, it is

disfiguring and destructive in a way that is hard to imagine if you have

not experienced it. In London I have worked with people living on housing

estates were violent gun crime is endemic, but next door and there

will be streets full of better of people leading completely different

lives with completely different expectations. The two communities

live parallel lives that never touch. Young people on one estate I

their world ended at the borders of their world ended at the borders of

the estate they lived in and the world beyond was close to them. We

have to break those barriers down. I hope the NCS has a role to play

here. I would like to hear the minister's views on strengthening

the focus on integration in the bill. It talks about cohesion, but

not about the process of integration that is necessary to achieve it. A

change on these lines has the support of a number of delivery

organisations and we will deliver that and revisit it at committee

stage. It is fundamentally important the NCS continues to offer

opportunities to young people from different backgrounds, so it is a

concern the proportion of participants from poorer backgrounds

has fallen since the NCS was created in 2011. The National Audit Office

states, quote, in many areas a disproportionate number of young

people from certain backgrounds participate. It is important this is

an organisation for every young person in the country whatever their

background. I am happy to give way. It is slightly disappointing to hear

him coming out with quite a lot of negative comments about the scheme

which I thought his party, after so many years of trying, had come to

support. Does he not acknowledge the number of young people who qualify

for free school meals going on this programme has been put at 17%, which

is more than double the proportion in society as a whole, so in that

respect it is doing rather well? The point I am making are intended to

strengthen the NCS and if we do not make them, they may never change. I

hope he will join with me in that spirit of seeking constructive

criticism in order to improve what the government is doing. When

applications in general are below the targets set by the government,

13% in 2016. This needs to be addressed and delivery organisations

are aware of it, but we look to the government to set the support needed

to deliver it. We look to introduce a specific duty on the NCS to

promote the programme to young people from socially excluded

backgrounds and to explore new ways to reach that. I thank him for

giving way. In the turn that I thought that had been set for this

debate, does he recognise the work the government is doing through this

bill authorising HMRC to work with NCS to reach more people? That he

recognise that is a key part in making sure the NCS reaches a far

wider range of eligible young people and hopefully will increase

truly shared society requires participation rates

everyone to have a voice and the power to assert it. There

would you give people more control depends on the circumstances and the

context you are operating in. When the state sets up organisations or

services, it often fails to give people on the receiving end a real

say, despite the fact organisations benefit from higher levels of input

from their users. If the NCS is to remain relevant to young people, it

is important they have a real voice over what it does and how it

operates both now and in the future. That means giving young people a

direct role in governance and decision-making in the NCS. I had

previous involvement in setting up one of the biggest community youth

trusts in the country which took control of a number of Lambeth

Council youth services. The intention was to give young people a

real voice by reserving half the positions on the governing board for

them and by ensuring those young people appointed properly

represented young people from the more deprived backgrounds who had

the greatest needs for the services on offer. In the absence of our

structure it would still be good to see the NCS take a similar approach

and ensure young people have a key role at every level. This will be

critical to making the NCS credible and attractive to as wide a range of

young people as possible, particularly those who are

categorised as harder to reach. The government's changes to the draft

charter are important. There is a new board of patrons, but I believe

the NCS would benefit from more young people and fewer politicians

at the top. The NCS has full support on this side of the House. The

concerned I am racing are raised in the spirit of constructive criticism

and are intended to approve the operation of the organisation. We

want to see some changes in the Bill that will strengthen the focus on

integrating, and ensure the NCS reaches as wide a range of young

people as possible, and to give young people are bigger boys at

every level in the decision-making in the organisation. These changes

will help the NCS better meet its laudable objectives and we hope they

can be achieved through consensus. We live in a country with a generous

and open spirit, full of talented and ambitious young people who want

to make a difference to their own lives, their family's and the

communities about them. But they need a bigger boys and power to it

hurt. Organisations like the NCS have an important role to play in

making this happen. Ours is already sharing society where people

instinctively cooperate. It is government that to catch up. The

measure will be whether the government makes real progress in

opening up and sharing its power with people so they can at least

influence the changes that affect their own lives. This may be a small

bill, but it has big ideas behind it. Opportunity, community,

contribution. Given the chance, young people and the NCS have much

to teach us and the government about these great national themes. We wish

them every success in doing that in the future. Order. It might be

helpful to the House if I say there is no time limit at this stage on

backbench speeches, but an informal limit involving a certain

self-denying ordinance might help. An informal limit of ten minutes per

backbench members seems reasonable and well within the capacities of a

Kentish night. So Julian Brazier! Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I

am extremely grateful for the much undeserved honour. I welcome this

bill, I am a strong supporter of the NCS. I had the opportunity to visit

some of the 130 constituents who did their NCS service last year and I am

very impressed with the youngsters I met.

They were producing simile interesting ideas for working for

local charities. This combination of challenging activity and a sense of

service are something that I believe will be a very important part of our

last Prime Minister's legacy, and I was really delighted to see that

David Cameron has agreed to be chairman of the patrons. I am going

to focus what I say now on the first bit of the adventure programme

because while I strongly support what is being delivered and the very

strong team headed by Michael Lynagh and and his chairman that I have the

opportunity to me just before this, I am concerned there are some wider

trends out there that lie outside the stricken finds of this bill but

knowing how tolerant you are, Mr Speaker, as it is highly relevant to

the supplied ten the National Citizen Service are about to just

touch on it. Adventure training, which every NCS student does for at

least a week and in some cases two weeks, usually at the beginning of

the programme, develops teamwork, it develops confidence, it involves

pushing the bounds and learning how to manage risk in a positive and

constructive manner. It is very, very important, it is also

increasingly rare. As far back as 12 years ago, the then education select

committee pointed out that we, the country, which produced the team

that cracked Everest had actually slipped down the lead and were

arguably below average around the world in our capacity for adventure

training. Five years ago, the English outdoor counsel produced a

list of residential centres that deliver in their view good quality

adventure training. Of those 180 centres, 30 have since closed.

Equally disturbing, a number of others have been taken over by

providers who are providing a good commercial offer, in the sense that

their insurance premium is low because there are stream Lee-Lo,

that in the words of one expert in the field, typically deliver every

meal indoors to the children. In other words, these so-called

adventure opportunities involve nothing lasting for more than two or

three hours at a time. Now the NCS is firmly aimed at the right end of

the market. All of the experiences of all the NCS students I have met

have been extremely good ones, drawn from good parts of the sector, but

we have to be clear this element is still shrinking now. I believe that

the reasons for it are twofold. One is the litigious culture we are in,

and the second is the worry about prosecution. Two surveys done, one

in 2003 by the CCPR, and one by the scouts in 2006 revealed this, the

blame culture, as the number-1 concern among adult volunteers. It

is also in the era when you can a corporate manslaughter charge a very

serious concern for those local authorities and others who run these

providers. I would like to suggest that we have made some progress, in

terms of rolling back the litigious culture. After an all-party effort

behind a private members bill which I am privileged to do, the Labour

government introduced a small measure called the compensation act

with really only one substantial cause in it, that reminded the

courts but if they make an award against an organisation, they need

to take account of the damage potentially to the wider interest in

that activity. It was supported on all sides of the house, although

opposed by a number of highly articulate lawyers on both sides of

the house in both chambers, interestingly. The threat of

prosecution remains a very serious threat. There has been a certain

amount of salt of banter out there in the media about alleged stories

alleging various phoney regulations, and the HSE, whose new chairman I

strongly welcome, has debunked lots of myths. But the problem whenever I

discuss people providing adventure training is never with regulation.

Nobody has ever in a serious adventure training context once

raised a regulation with me as a problem. That is not the issue. The

problem is the risk of prosecution if something goes wrong. Perhaps the

worst case of this was called Julie Park. 2005, a boy of 14 was drowned

in a caving incident in Yorkshire's top adventure training provider. The

Health and Safety Executive decided to prosecute the local authority,

and the case took more than five years to come to court. Finally, in

2010, the local authority were acquitted. They were acquitted

because a critical body called the adventure activities licensing

authority, who look at standards in these organisations, have given this

body a clean bill of health and came and testified in court that the

standard of instruction, the standard of leadership, was

extremely high here, and the freak and complete unpredicted weather

conditions that had led to the rapidly rising water could not have

been anticipated, and in fact it was a remarkable achievement of the

instructors that they got all but one of the children out alive. Had

that prosecution gone the other way, we would not have only lost that

centre but many, many others button down the country would have decided

they were no longer willing to take the risks of continuing. Would he

agree with me that that indicates the importance of ensuring the

adventure activities licensing authority remains in a condition

where it is able to take that kind of stance? My right honourable

friend, who is an absolute expert on this matter, anticipates and did so

much in this area in his time not just with the NCS but also more

widely in the adventure training field. That is why it is absolutely

crucial, I would suggest to the house, that in a time when we are

about to start a public consultation on the future, which will be

conducted by a panel by the HSE, not only that it survives, but that its

brief is expanded so that it is able to ask why have these centres been

closing over the last few years and crucially not just ask is the

practice safe in the centres, but also what is the quality of the

adventure that is being delivered there? Because it is very easy to

make so-called adventure training safe if it isn't adventurous. You

need to be able to ask what is the character building quality of these

activities. I am delighted to say the HSE have taken the decision to

include on the panel one outside member, Iain Lewers, the director of

the campaign for adventure. One of whom's patrons I should mention is

another previous Prime Minister, Tony Blair. So I very much hope that

when we have a National Citizen Service, whose patrons I headed by

one former Prime Minister, and the campaign for adventure is sitting

on, represented on the panel that is looking at the future of the

adventure activities licensing authority that that the panel will

come up with a conclusion that will guarantee a future for la, that

ensures it continues to be able to speak independently, and expands its

brief so that we discover why these centres are closing and that we get

the focus back on to the kind of high-quality adventure which is so

crucial to the future of the National Citizen Service. I very

much welcome this bill. Sure it is a small bill and in many ways on

controversial, the key strategic effect of being the effective

government of the National Citizen Service, but my sense is that seeing

it in this way hides its true significance, in that it really

focuses in on how do we live together, and there is no more

important issue addressing the country, how do we create a nation

that is with itself and foster a notion of service to others amongst

our young people? Obviously this is vital, given the divisions in our

society so clearly exposed last year around class, race, geography and

religion, and a general fear that these tensions might continue to

escalate. These divisions suggest a brittle country, so resolving this

and healing division will indeed take time but this bill will help.

So it is a small bill it is significant, and more generally how

do we ensure that our young people on Orange will about the country

they inhabit and how do we build an ethic of service amongst the younger

generations? A programme of National Service on behalf of our fellow

citizens, the National Citizen Service. So it is a simple notion

but important in terms of shaping the future character of the country.

Across my east London constituency, one of the fastest changing

communities in the UK, and the one that has experienced quite recently

issues of extremism and violence, I have seen at first hand the benefits

of this programme, widening the depth that micro-birth of young

people's experiences, from different backgrounds, it is hoped the

community is integrate, like ours. Overall across the country some

275,000 young people have already taken part of the programme and a

couple of results are worth noting. 82% of people leave the programme or

positive about the people from different backgrounds and also feel

better prepared about the future. It is also building a legacy of service

and volunteering. I was struck by one statistic that in the 16 months

following the submission of cohorts that went through in 2013 and 2014

contributed a further 8 million hours of service in the community

after they had gone through the course. So the ethos of the NCS, in

order to build resilient young people, appears to be working. I

think we can agree with this this afternoon that to develop further it

needs to be beyond party politics and the bill helps to ensure that no

one party can lay claim to it. To be successful, it cannot be seen as

another government scheme that will put people off. So far, the evidence

suggest that participants do not see it simply as a government scheme,

and again that is evident about why we need to retain the cross-party

political support for the programme. In terms of the details of the bill,

the bill ensures that transition from the community interest Company

to an organisation of the Royal Charter. The NCS trust will be a new

body and the rule Charter requires the trust to ensure equality of

access irrespective of background, ensuring a flexible fee structure

that would not inhibit participation. Much of the bill is

about the accountability of the trust.

The trust must publish an annual business plan and at the end of the

year and annual report to be laid before Parliament. All of this seems

pretty sensible and not that controversial. I simply want to make

four points I hope will not be seen as controversial, and they are to

try and trick then... Just before, thank you to my honourable friend

for giving way, does he agree with me that actually the importance of

the annual report cannot be overstated? And would it not be, as

well as laying the report before Parliament, would it not be

something for the administrative consider whether the government the

Minister will ensure that that report is debated and discussed

within Parliament as well? I totally agree, if stated objectively this is

how we can learn to live together it seems to me it should not be beyond

our collective wit to organise a few debates in Parliament every year so

we can test how successful we are being at that, so I agree with my

colleague. It begins with question of the links with public bodies. The

original draft of the bill had an obligation on public bodies but that

has gone. I can understand public bodies might see this as a bit of an

imposition, local authorities have quite a bit being thrown at them at

the moment. So there is no need to enshrine it, but if we go to

proceed, surely we need to ensure that this is a core activity for our

public activities? I raise this with my local council and a number of our

schools and found it was not actually a concern I thought it

might be, not least when I found that 95% of London schools are

already involved in the programme, although I do wonder about the

effect of the independent sector. Therefore in terms of the Minister,

when will the guidance of schools and local authorities on how to

better engage with the NTSB published?

I understand ?20 million will be earmarked, and it raises the

question of what role schools and colleges will have in the promotion

of the programme. Secondly, on questions of integration, I would

echo the point made by one of my colleagues earlier. One of the point

is whether the language used is sufficiently focused on on the

integration aspects of the NCS. Social integration, mixing and

forging bonds, is a process and a should not be confused with social

cohesion, the outcome we seek to achieve. At its best NCS helps

integration. Participants spend almost three weeks together and

through a social atmosphere they cook, live and eat together, so they

are pushed out of their comfort zones as they engage in challenging

activities and rotate leadership roles. They set shared goals and

they have shared challenges overcome through teamwork rather than through

individual effort. Could we ensure that the integration function is

enshrined in legislation? They are the most important part of the NCS

work. Is there enough of that integration and not just cohesion?

Thirdly, on the question of inclusion, for a programme to have

integration at its heart, it must include the hardest to reach young

people. Should not some of the funding that delivery organisations

yet to be ring fenced for this purpose to ensure that all members

have access and NCS is a programme for all. On the ambition of the

bill, in terms of money, over 1 billion over five years is a lot of

money, especially given the austere times we live in. Is the Bill

ambitious enough? How is it linked to wider questions of citizenship?

Citizenship might well fall of the school curriculum. That would also

alter the driving philosophy of the programme. In contrast, the NCS

provides short programmes for 16 and 17-year-olds and it is a clearly

defined programme. But there are issues we might want to discuss, for

example city year recruit young people to serve for a year in

challenging communities, but their status is not clear. In other

countries like the USA and France full-time volunteering has a clearer

legal status. Should we not consider a more systematic government

approach to the idea of a year of service and help with university

fees and the like? At present full-time volunteers are literally

technically not in full-time education, training or employment.

In other countries full-time volunteering as a proper legal

status. Why should we not move in this direction? I am one of the very

few people left who does subscribe to the idea of a big society and the

NCS is what the last Prime Minister called the big society in action

which I am supportive of. I also think it is a good thing that the

recently departed Prime Minister has decided to chair the NCS patrons.

This bill has an ambition behind it, to build virtual citizens and help

us live together peacefully. It is a little bill, but one that is

significant in terms of the future character of the country we wish to

build. Nothing could be more important if this bill helps the NCS

to achieve and endure, it will have achieved plenty. It is a pleasure to

follow the honourable member for Dagenham and I formally received his

marks and thought to myself, having believed this was a bill which was

not possible to take any objections to, that the honourable member for

Croydon North had cast around fairly widely in order to disguise his

enthusiasm for it. Four years ago I had my first encounter with NCS and

I decided then that it was a good thing. It seemed to me that this

bill is designed to make it more of a good thing and that is why I

welcome it so warmly. I can think back over the years when one of the

siren calls that one heard from young people themselves was, there

is nothing to do here, whether he was a town or a village. In reality

there were things to do, but there was no obvious way of making a

positive contribution to the community beyond perhaps the Scouts

and the girl guides. Then from an older generation you would hear the

call that the youngsters these days need discipline, we should have

National Service, bring back National Service, something our

professional Armed Forces rather disdained as an idea. You would hear

people say, well, it did me good and it is what everybody needs today.

That view began to fade, quite rightly, but talk there was of a

civilian equivalent. Somehow it never got going and it is to the

credit of the former Prime Minister when he was the member for Whitney

that he did take this up and make a real achievement of it. Many of us

always felt there was scope for this, whether it was because we were

enthused by what the late President Kennedy did with the Peace Corps and

so on, involving and harnessing the views and enthusiasm of young

people. At last it seems to me with the National citizens service we

have got a scheme which has taken root and is flourishing. My

connection with it has simply been that I have tried juju to visit a

group in my constituency in each of the last four years and I have seen

a whole host of things that young people have engaged in at various

stages of the four week a process that they follow. I can certainly

attest to the growing confidence I have seen amongst those young

people, the interaction between them, coming as they do from

different backgrounds and not having met each other before, and the

enthusiasm that they had. I welcome that. I never heard a voice raised

by them that this was a waste of time. It was all a matter of wanting

to go back and tell other people that this was something they should

think about when their chance came. I accept the trust's own findings of

greater positivity amongst people who they have managed to persuade to

come into the scheme. The honourable member referred to the Ipsos Mori

poll evaluation and that is good evidence that young people

themselves feel positive about it. What are the concerns? There is I

suppose the possibility that NCS has an effect on recruitment to other

organisations, whether it is voluntary service overseas, whether

it is Medecins Sans Frontieres, Save the Children, Oxfam, the Duke of

Edinburgh scheme, or the Prince of Wales trust. But I do not think that

will happen, it is more likely that NCS will be a stepping stone to

looking around for other things that people may do in life, having had

the knowledge and experience of what being part of NCS was all about. In

short, Madame Deputy Speaker, I do not see anything that NCS can spoil.

It is inculcating a habit and an approach amongst young people and

that can only be for the good of our society. Of course it is right we

should be concerned about governance and one or two colleagues this

afternoon have referred to how we control it and make sure it is

offering value for money and so on. With an annual report presented to

Parliament this is a way which we can all check on this and I support

the idea of there being a debate about it. We should talk about these

things more often, so the achievements of young people who NCS

should be highlighted in Parliament because too many people are ready to

believe the worst of young people, simply on the basis they will read a

story in the newspaper which puts them in a bad light, completely

ignoring the fact the vast majority of young people mean well and in

fact do well in terms of their contribution to society. Having had

the pleasure and privilege of some involvement with voluntary

organisations over the years, one of the things that we have to be

careful about is supposing that you can find a precise value to attach

to the benefits that you get from being with NCS. How do you measure a

contribution that somebody might make? The enthusiasm that will go

with them when they go out to collect money for a cause? How can

you measure it? You cannot measure how a person's outlook on society

may have been proved to make that person someone a more positive

citizen than they might have otherwise been. Yes, we must be

responsible in the amount of money that is spent, we do not want to

pretend that you can implement the view of the cost of everything, but

the value of nothing. I will give way. I thank my honourable friend

for giving way and I think he makes a powerful and important point. I

have visited schemes in the Bury St Edmunds constituency, but I stand

here as someone who has had three children attend NCS or be a mentor

on NCS. Actually the benefit is some way down the line, growing their

confidence and so on, and growing their ability to understand where

other people come from. One of my daughters at university is there

with a young man who had had a somewhat challenging background

before she was on NCS with him, but everybody equals out in that place

and that is one of the fundamental benefits of NCS, levelling the

playing field, both educationally and in abilities. Would he not

agree? My honourable friend's rather lengthy contribution has extended my

speech, but I absolutely applaud what she says and I am grateful for

the support that she is giving to the remarks that I have just made!

The Local Government Association has expressed concern that the money

that will go into NCS is therefore money that they will not get, or

they might lose money in the process. None of us want to decry

what many local authorities to their credit are able to do. I have always

been an advocate for that, but this is a special organisation which is

in no way makes negative what it is local authorities do. It might find

even more people who will want to take part in these various other

youth services and extend the reach of those bodies. My honourable

friend, the member for Canterbury, raised the safety issue and of

course that is important. I hoped he did not quite over do it because I

was thinking of some of the schemes I've seen what even with the use of

a fork to put into the earth when you are tidying up a community

garden could cause an injury, or someone who is bravely advertising

on a street corner, the fact that is a car wash they are operating for a

period some little distance away, who could be knocked down in an

accident. All sorts of horrors could befall people, in ordinary things as

in high adventure things. But we must not assume that anything goes

and that people could be put at risk. I was not really disagreeing

with my honourable friend. Madame Deputy Speaker, my right honourable

friend is absolutely right and my point is that we have to be very

careful that an unhealthy obsession with trying to eliminate all risks

N-Dubz squeezing the opportunities for real adventure out of

children's' lives. Of course I agree with that and the adventure part of

it is opposed to the activities in which there could be a safety risk

and is a distinct thing. The real test to which we should apply our

minds is whether the core programme is delivered, whether the numbers

going through are continuing to rise. What I found some encouraging

is that those who have graduated, if that is the right word, are

increasingly ready to take on a further role. That has also been

mentioned by the honourable member for Dagenham and rain. They come

back as mentors and tutors and I have had the pleasure of meeting

some of them earlier this afternoon. It is great that they admit as to

how their eyes have been opened and their experiences deepened and how

they are willing to pass that on. The best recruiters are those people

who go back to their schools and talk about it amongst their

acquaintances to encourage further participation. If we can keep on

raising the numbers who want to go into the NCS, I think we will do the

quality of our social life in this country a great deal of good.

Schools should be in courage. I heard what the secretary of State

said about the role of HMRC. Yes, that is good, but we need to get to

the schools. If I may say so, the fact that only about 150 members of

this house have as yet found the opportunity to meet with a group

with an NCS project is way below what it needs to be. I would

encourage all colleagues to find an opportunity to do it so they are

well informed from their own impression and constituency of what

a good project and concept that the NCS is. I think it is absolutely

right that we are conferring royal charter status to give NCS a higher

profile, making it more obviously a proper organisation in the eyes of

anybody who might doubt it and I would say finally we should move

with enthusiasm on our part something that has already

established good foundations. Thank you called a pleasure to

follow the honourable member and other honourable members and I join

with them in welcoming this bill and the provisions it puts in place,

because I believe that National Citizen Service should be a right of

passage for young people across our country and this bill will in bed

NCS as a national institution, and make it an important part of our

national fabric. In Yorkshire, I've seen at first hand the great work

that the challenge trust, English football league trust do on behalf

of the NCS. Last year, Barnsley FC's community sport and education trust

oversaw 326 people taking part in the scheme. The fact that this is

well over double the number that had part in 2013 gives me confidence

that with the right support the scheme will become more and more

successful. For many, NCS is the first up on their youth social

action journey. Their involvement in the programme in bed in them the

value of service, and I'm very supportive of the role that it plays

in doing this. Because NCS is a part of the youth social action centre

that is going from strength to strength, a fact that it is very

clearly demonstrated to the great work of organisations like city

year, Be Inspired, the Princes trust and the Scout Association. I could

speak about the achievement of each of these organisations and many

others at length, but today I want to confine my remarks to the NCS and

what makes it so special. President Obama said in his farewell speech

just the other day for too many of us it has become safer to retreat

into our own bubbles, surrounded by people who look like gas and share

the same political outlook and never challenge our assumptions. NCS

consistently pushes our young people out of these bubbles and brings

young people together from different backgrounds across socioeconomic and

ethnic lines. This must be applauded and it must be built upon, and this

is a very timely moment to have this debate because 2016 was the year

that are divisions in our country became more apparent than ever

before. Accordingly I think it is hugely important that national

institution such as the NCS exist, where people can come together and

meaningfully engage with those from different backgrounds in order to

bridge the divide is. I would however just like to draw the

house's attention to research that shows a number of NCS graduates from

hard to reach backgrounds has fallen since the introduction of the

scheme. I would I would therefore be grateful if the

Minister considers whether the language used in the Royal Charter,

laying out the primary functions and purpose of the NCS trust, is

sufficiently focused on the integration aspect of the NCS.

Cohesive communities are the outcome. For many young people

taking part in NCS, it is the beginning of creating the diverse

social networks they need to flourish. Therefore, we should focus

on ensuring the hardest to reach young people are able to take up the

opportunity afforded to them by the NCS. Programme providers such as the

challenge are doing fantastic work to this end. The employee dedicated

personal coaches to support young people with complex needs prior to

and after completing the NCS. So as to ensure there are as few barriers

to entry as possible for these young people. I will give way. Would he

agree with me one of the mentors said to me that one of the young

people who got the most out of it on her course was in fact a young

carer, and maybe this is a group that should be targeted

specifically, as they often have a hard job in accessing some

recreation and the ability to lift themselves out of their current

environment in a way that is helpful and meaningful. I do absolutely

agree with her. There is a consensus I think across the house and I think

my honourable friend the member for Croydon North was slightly unfairly

chided if I might say so for seeking to make the most constructive of

contributions to this debate because I think there is a consensus that

this is a great scheme, and that young people benefit enormously from

it. The challenge that government, all of us find, is that those people

who perhaps would benefit the most those Bautista reach, and as I said

in my earlier remarks, those are the hardest to reach the hardest to

reach, and on the side just offering some constructive critique of the

scheme, a scheme which we support and in ensure it maximises the

benefits all those people who would benefit from it. Prior to my

honourable friend was like most, I was alluding to the work done by the

challenge in dedicating personal coaches to support young people with

complex needs and ensuring that they get the same opportunities as

perhaps participants from more affluent grounds. And for the

programme to have integration at its heart, it must be a programme for

all, and providers must have adequate resource to focus their

attention on this work, and although the NCS plays an important role in

enabling social mobility, it should not be seen as a ready-made remedy

to the problems caused by costs to other youth services. It must be

part of a sectoral wide investment strategy. Madam Deputy Speaker, my

life, both outside and inside politics, has showed me the value of

service and of citizenship, and the National Citizen Service is a

21st-century manifestation of these values. I am grateful for the

opportunity to contribute to this debate, and I look forward to

hearing from the Minister regarding the specific points that has been

made most constructively think it is fair to say on the side about the

NCS's role in facilitating integration and including the

hardest to reach groups in our society, but most of all I look

forward to the programme growing from strength to strength as a

result of this bill, and of its Royal Charter. Thank you very much

indeed, it is a great pleasure to follow the honourable gentleman and

the speaker is both a local member of Parliament but also chairman of

the all-party Parliamentary Heritage rail, and the

It is also been followed outside by those who have an active involvement

in the NCS. They might think why is it that there is not a packed house

to celebrate such an important scheme. But I think they should draw

some comfort from the fact that actually that means this is not a

contentious scheme, it is something that has cross-party support, that

all white honourable members want to succeed and actually it is a good

sign, in a way, that there is although much interest, not too much

controversy about this particular bill. Madam Deputy Speaker I the

fact that this bill will place the NCS on a statutory footing and make

it a national and situation and a rite of passage for 15 to

17-year-olds, and I want to make sure in joining others to pay

tribute to the former Prime Minister who was a great champion of NCS.

Also the member for the Ruislip, northward and Pinner who is now a

minister in another department who did so much to get NCS up and

running in the last parliament. I would like to make tribute all of

those working on NCS both nationally, and those who have

already participated and participate as mentors in all the schemes, and

without their great education, the schemes would not have success, and

to pay tribute to the current minister and the current Secretary

of State for championing this. I think it is fair to say that the

families, both my family and the Secretary of State's families

already know the benefits of much outdoor activities, because we take

them on route marches often in the summer recesses. I want to talk just

about three areas today. The building of skills needed by our

young people for it life in 20th-century Britain, the cohesion

and integration aspect of NCS and a specific amendment which was raised

in the other place, which I do intend to put down on volunteering

in waters continued to be -- considered to be an industrial

undertaking first of the NCS is often a first step the young people

on their youth social action journey and it does create an emphasis on

creating more gauged citizens will stop we have our day had mention of

the primers to's recent speech, unveiling the shared society, in

which said brightly it is time to tackle the culture of individualism,

and the NCS is about making sure young people are equipped with the

necessary skills to get ahead in life. I was to let you hear the

honourable member for Dagenham and rain talking about character,

because character education is something that I championed when I

was in the Department for Education, setting up the character of awards

and the character grants, and I do think that NCS, and I have had,

sessions with global and national providers, is a huge important part

of building individual and national character of young people. NCS is a

vital extracurricular activity, but it is also about civic engagement,

and the recent research does show that participants have a higher

likelihood of voting if they have taken part in NCS, and it has also

been shown that bite the ballot who partnered with them via The

Challenge, and 95% of all participants have gone on the

register to vote. That a time when we often lament the fact that young

people are not so engaged in voting in the political process, that just

shows one of the benefits of NCS. Through the programmes come young

people are able to work with they develop resilience, my

favourite word, quit, teamwork and leadership skills, and to discover

more about their area through delivering local volunteering

project that matter to them. I recently met with the original

delivery part of NCS in my own constituency, who have worked with

over 5016 and 17-year-olds in the East Midlands since 2011, and

supported them to carry out over 100,000 hours of social action. In

Loughborough, I work with a number of organisations who benefit from

NCS social action, including rainbows children's Hospice and the

Falkland centre which supports homeless people with accommodation.

I have met at least three of my local NCS cohorts during the

residential week in Leicester at the end of the social action project

they were doing. The last one involved great sacrifice of eating

cupcakes on a Saturday morning, it was very difficult and I was

delighted they had chosen to raise funds in that way. But there is an

intensive nature and a seriousness behind the NCS programme. Honourable

members have body talk about the levelling effects of the activities

involved in the setting of shared goals, which also contributes to the

development of a common identity between participants, who often come

from diverse backgrounds. I think those who have talked about the

national importance of NCS, I think it is right, last year's referendum

result has meant that discussions about national identity are ever

more to the fore, so I think that mixing of people from different

backgrounds is such a vital part of NCS. I also welcome that the bill

will encourage more young people to take advantage of the programmes.

Schools are clearly an airport in way of reaching young people and

informing them of the benefits of participating in the programme, and

when I was Secretary of State for Education I had some, sessions with

the minister, and I was very much of the view that schools should

absolutely facilitate the giving of information to young people about

the benefits of the scheme. There is a temptation sometimes to ask our

schools to do an awful lot and I did used to say that if we ask schools

to do everything that everyone asks of them they would never get round

to teaching until about midnight every night, so we have to have a

balance, but they're absolutely must be a way for schools to facilitate

the giving of information about the programme to both future

participants but also the parents and families, and in allowing those

who have participated in the scheme to come back and talk to future

cohorts about why they should sign up.

Let me turn to a amendment tabled in the other place which we might

debate during the course of this bill going through the house. The

purpose is to ensure that the builders not unintentionally prevent

people from working as volunteers on heritage railway or Heritage tramway

as part of the programme provided or arranged by the NCS. A similar

amendment was tabled by Lord Falconer and has been debated

already in the other place. I am a chair of the all-party partner group

on heritage rail and want to recognise the contribution that the

sector makes to local economies through tourism and employment. The

great Central rail through my own constituency attracts 130,000 per

year visitors and for the six consecutive year has reached a

record high of ?1.57 billion and provided deployment of over 20,000

people. Young people will be vital to the success of the industry as

they provide voluntary maintenance and operational support and in turn

heritage rail raise hope to engage people and provide a platform for

them to learn important skills that the NCS and still is. It would

appear however that the employment of young persons and children act

1920 excludes children which section five of eight of the education act

1996 defines as individuals not yet 16. It seems illegal for young

people to volunteer on heritage railways which did not exist are

busy when the act, and the current push towards volunteering did not

exist when the 1920 act came into force. That is why the new clause

has been proposed, to make clear that the act for 1920s should not

prevent people from volunteering on heritage railways and tramways. I

would like to make it clear that the standard health and safety that we

have heard in discussion this afternoon, supervisor requirements

and all, would of course still apply. We need more young people on

our heritage railways and the all-party Parliamentary group is

looking at this and there is a role for apprenticeships and the

development of vital employability skills will the 21st-century. I

would like to conclude by offering wholehearted support for NCS and the

bill. I would like to see maximum participation in NCS in the future.

It is a good thing, in fact a great thing for the individual young

people participating, but is also a great thing for the country. I hope

to have the opportunity just you asked ministers to think about

updating the law in respect to heritage railways and industrial

undertakings. Thank you. Thank you Madam Deputy Speaker. I will join

colleagues in having a similarly consensual and commonly approach to

this bill because I'm super -- supportive of this myself. They have

done great work in my constituency. Redcar as a constituency has a youth

employment rate of two and a half times the national average. People

knew they were guaranteed steelwork jobs or at the docks previously, but

those industries and jobs have gone and the challenges faced now offer

less security and more challenging environments for getting jobs and

opportunities. My greatest fear is that young people growing up in the

Redcar don't necessarily see that they have a future there any region

and that you get on, you have to move away. Some of the most

important things that NCS brings is giving young people a stake in the

local community and made the -- restoring civic pride. That is

fundamental to communities like mine for building for the beach. I have

seen NCS regenerate but the clubs, paint meeting rooms, ten concrete

roadsides into gardens, and raise a huge amount for fantastic global

charities -- local charities for domestic violence and other

worthwhile courses. The programme emphasises developing life and work

skills and particularly self-esteem, confidence building, and as I have

said encouraging the next generation is Jake is stake in their community,

I think this is a truly valuable. I was privileged to attend some of the

award ceremonies and see young men and women addressing 200 and 300

people in their way they would have admitted themselves they would never

have done a few weeks ago. That is a fantastic skill to give them, skills

like budgeting, project management, fundraising, things like have

already been said in an increasingly squeezed curriculum in schools we

don't have the time to teach young people but which are absolutely

fundamental to success. I value the NCS very highly, and this bill will

play a role in establishing it as a national institution for more young

people to access. Police have also expressed that one of the greatest

strength of the NCS is the way it brings together people from all

walks of life, bridging divides and overcoming prejudice. It is

important because young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are able

to access the same opportunities as those from wealthier and better

connected families. Social inclusion, social mobility are

intrinsic to the principles of NCS, and I strongly believe that these

principles must be maintained when placed on a statutory footing. It

must not be the preserve of those young people who are already

confident enough to put up their hands, those whose parents already

have the sharpest elbows. At present the NCS are committed to make the

most socially excluded young people included. The report published last

week it is that a high percentage of the assessments from minority groups

were participating in a positive achievement. We must make sure the

motive remains a key purpose after the translation to becoming a world

tour the body and cannot ever be relegated to low importance. I

support because my honourable friend made on the front bench, and also by

the challenge to make the Royal Charter Sue specifically reference

social integration is one of the primary functions of NCS. I support

the case for funding specifically ring faced for targeting hard to

reach groups. This is fundamental to NCS and should be fundamentally

written into the government fabrication of the new body. I am

initially concerned when the government initially announced the

bill that some of the burdens might be placed on schools and local

bodies which are overstretched, and it is a welcome change then that

there are no formal duties on either to be included in the bill we are

debating. Moving forward, injuring a programme grocer sustainably is an

important challenge, given the National Audit Office have

highlighted rising costs and lower than expected participation rates.

One of the most important aspect of this bill in my view is to learn the

lessons of the kids Company there but, and to ensure the proper

reporting and accounting structures are in place for an organisation

that is receiving a large amount of government funding. It is important

to remember that while the NCS is an important surface it is not the only

youth service in town. There are others playing a vital role in

diverting young people from crime, supporting young carers, and

overcoming exclusion. They must not be deprived of the funding they need

to operate, and a survey conducted by the local government Association

which I think the honourable member from Saffron Walden referred to

earlier found 90% of industry has had cut services for teenagers. That

is of course as we know a reduction in government funding. Between April

2010 and 2016, they'll wear ?387 million cut from youth service

spending across the UK. Youth services of varying kinds play a

vital role in communities, providing real and ongoing benefits for young

people who need them, but crucially in many of these cases, the result

savings for the tax that payer, as they reduce costs later on down the

line. I am proud to say however that I support the principle is of the

legislation and am pleased to have seen such wide cross-party support

of the value of the NCS programme here today. With clear language in

the world Charter I believe the growly -- value of it could be

greatly enhanced. The young people of the site have a great energy and

ideas come and have an enormous amounts to contribute to their

community and country and country other hope the bill will allow them

to the role that potential. Thank you for calling me to speak in this

debate, and it is a pleasure to follow the honourable lady the

member for Redcar and would like to highlight the comment that she made

that the National Citizen Service should not be the preserve of those

who are confident, a lot of young people who perhaps lack confidence

and the encouragement to come forward are the targets of the

scheme, I would like to re-emphasise that point. Over the last couple of

years I have been delighted to attend an apple of -- number of

National Citizen Service meetings in Crawley. Local graduates of the

programme have spoken on a number of occasions, now. It is often said by

some that are young people don't care about the local area or have no

interest in getting involved in the community. An assertion can Deputy

Speaker, from our own experiences which I'm sure that all in this

house would contest. The National Citizen Service leads to increased

community engagement, awareness and social action, and I have seen this

for myself from the NCS participant in my constituency where the

initiative is delivered by the Crawley Town community foundation.

Cohort of the cohort have shown that they are truly committed to helping

those less fortunate than themselves and through the programme they

continue to come up with ways to raise funds and awareness for

important local causes. The national council for voluntary organisations

has previously called for greater collaboration between the voluntary

sector and the NCS, and as such closer working together could lead

to an even greater difference. I am sure that other operators would be

able to learn from what I have seen in Crawley, last year through their

social action projects the NCS participants works alongside a host

of local good causes, including Crawley open house, the Springboard

projects, Saint Catherine 's Hospice, the Olive tree Cancer

support centre, and save the children. I would like to take the

opportunity not only to commend Callie's NCS graduates but also to

thank them sincerely for raising more than ?7,400 across the three

NCS programmes last year. And for volunteering a total of over 7500

hours of their time to help these local organisations. This consists

of more than just fundraising alone. They have put together packs for the

homeless, and organised renovation works to help charities as well.

Madame liberty speaker at little over six months ago of course our

new Prime Minister right right honourable friend the member for

Maidenhead took office, before entering number ten for the first

time she stood on the steps of Downing Street and talked about the

importance of ensuring greater opportunity for all. The NCS helps

with that opportunity, a key hallmark of the National Citizen

Service is ensuring that young people are taught skills that they

can't learn in class. More than nine out of ten participants believe that

the NCS provides the opportunity to develop skills which would be useful

in future and analysis has shown that in the year after participants

that participation, the majority of NCS graduates they they have used

the skills already. The programme increases well-being and lowers

levels of anxiety with the greatest impact being found amongst those

from the poorest backyards. Madame liberty speaker, financial support

is available for the ?150 fee, and in fact the National Audit Office

take that in the average contribution was ?30, as result of

concessions and bursaries. In contrast, estimates show that in

2016, the cost per participant will exceed ?1800, an investment which

I'm sure members of the house would agree is were making. In 2015, 17%,

as previously heard, of NCS participants were eligible for free

school meals, compared with around 10% of young people from the general

population. Analysis of the summer 2014 programme, for example, has

shown that the NCS is estimated to have delivered social benefits

valued between ?17 million and ?250 million, benefits cuts ratios

between ?1 12 and ?3 98 for every ?1 spent. Research also shows that

fewer than half people between 18 to 24 voted at the last general

election, whilst more needs to be done in this regard and continues,

the NCS figure shows that participants are more likely to vote

and engage in our democracy after finishing the scheme. Indeed,

thousands of young people have been registered to vote what taking part

in the NCS. I am grateful to the government for its continued

enthusiasm supporting the initiative, and is like other right

honourable and honourable members I would like to pay tribute to former

Prime Minister David Cameron for establishing the National Citizen

Service and indeed his ongoing involvement after leaving public

office. The running of the NCS is not simply a case of a host of local

arbitrators doing their own thing independent both of each other and

established charity groups. I have seen in my own constituency through

the local provider, the Crawley Town community foundation, worked not

only with charities from West Sussex but also alongside trusts supporting

a host of league clubs in the delivery of the programme. Crawley

Town football club have backed the NCS over the years, including having

the programme participants having bucket collections for local causes

on match days, and holding graduation ceremonies in the stadium

suite overlooking the pets. This commitment is soon to go further

with additional events and announcement in the near future.

There is a regular exposure also on the club website and match they

programmes, and the impact of association with the local football

club cannot be underestimated. This bill will provide a duty on schools,

colleges and local and national government to inform young people

and their parents, particularly those from disadvantaged

backgrounds, of the skills and benefits that can be gained from the

National Citizen Service. One of the most powerful ways in which the NCS

can be routed is directly from the very people who have taken part.

Just another half of last year's Callie graduates are still involved

in the scheme, and indeed this is the highest figure across the whole

of the Kent and Sussex. With the Secretary of State tell the

house what assistance her department might be able to give the NCS

providers to ensure this rate can increase across the country in the

years ahead, and if her department may go further to assist the NCS

trust in ensuring best practice? This month, Crawley celebrates the

70th anniversary of its designation as a new town. It has been a time of

both reflection not only on the challenges facing us today but also

what makes such a strong community as well. The National Citizen

Service helps and encourages social cohesion, social mobility and social

engagement. The young adults taking part in programmes such as this, and

of course let's not forget the staff who helped deliver these schemes and

therefore these opportunities, are people we can all be proud of and

long may their fine might continue. It is a great speaker to follow the

honourable gentleman from Crawley, and to speak in this debate. I think

it has been very heartening to hear the widespread praise there is for

the National Citizen Service, and I would like to join in that because I

think it is an excellent scheme. The Secretary of State mentioned earlier

that the scheme is in England and in Northern Ireland, however I would

also like to put on record my praise for the excellent volunteering

element that forms part of the Welsh baccalaureate, and I think one of

the good things about these sorts of programmes is that we will be able

to share expertise and good ideas from wherever they come, both in

these islands and internationally, and I think that is a great strength

because I think that has always been the case with the best volunteering

programmes. I am sure the minister himself will be familiar, but I

would like to address the house on some of the points made by some of

the voluntary sector organisations about this bill. The national

council for voluntary organisations have spoken with some eloquence of

the programme as being part of a longer journey of social action and

volunteering. They have spoken of the importance of diversity, indeed

diversity of participants as being more important than numbers. And the

in crucial element of young people in the design of the programme. As

the charity aid foundation have really made a plea in deed in the

form of them wanting a new clause to be inserted into the Royal Charter

about the scheme is being part of the way of engaging young people

further and other social programmes like charity trusteeship, and they

make the point that of young trustees between the ages of 18 and

24, and when one realises that actually in this country I think it

is 12% of the population are 18 to 24, the number of trustees, that

falls to below 1% of all charity trustees, I think it is a very

important point, how we develop the scheme at the moment, by use of the

participants from that scheme to get involved as trustees, and in other

leadership roles. But I think as well we recognise many of us in our

middle ages here recognise that one doesn't stay at 15 to 17 forever,

and yet, and yet, and not everyone is in their middle age, as one of my

colleagues points out, but how do we developed volunteering, and how do

we developed a type of volunteering that brings people together, in a

sense what is the next step for volunteering from this bill? My

honourable member the Dagenham spoke about how volunteering in this

country doesn't really have any legal status, and indeed volunteers

of 18 and over, in fact not just 18 and over actually, could be

designated as not in employment, education and training, and for

those of 18 plus, of course, going on volunteering programmes, there is

no agreement that should mean national insurance contributions and

the like, and I think that is something as we take full of the

ideas of this bill, as we develop the ideas behind the National

Citizen Service, those are the sort of ideas that we need to develop.

Many of my colleagues, members on both sides of the house, have spoken

very passionately today about the whole issue of integration,

diversity, bringing people together, I think my honourable friend the

member for Barnsley gave a very, very moving quote that President

Obama made. It is not all about being in one's own little bubble,

talking to people who agree with ourselves, agreeing with those

people who then agree with ourselves. It is about coming

together with different people. I remember a television programme a

few years ago, and sitting on the stage, I think it was a sort of BBC

Parliament when we're not here type of programme, and sitting on the

stage was President Clinton. Former President Bill Clinton and former

President George W Bush, and they were discussing some sort of

leadership programme with young people that they had established in

the United States, and I can always remember what former President

Clinton actually said in that, he said the idea of bringing together

young African Americans who are active in their community, and

getting them then on the same programmes as young people who are

involved in the tea party, who believe that the world would be a

better place if everything operated in their small town, bringing

together those energies and with a synergy between them actually

creating something better for society, I'm not sure how much of

those ideas are in play in the US at the moment, but what a fantastic

idea of bringing together different groups, young people with different

ideas, and then being able to share those, and who knows what may be

able to come out after that? Because I think when we are looking at these

different sort of schemes, we don't know where this will lead. I hope

for instance that one area that we will look at is volunteering for

former young offenders, volunteering for people who have been in prison.

That step, sometimes, which is very great, that can take people out of a

life where people offend, go into jail, reoffend, go back into jail

and on and on. Is there a role specifically for volunteerism that

could actually bridge that gap from prison to employment, because that

is something as a next step we need to be thinking of, as well. As I

say, I would like to warmly commend this bill, and the ideas behind it.

I hope the resource and will be there and I hope the collaboration

and involvement with voluntary groups will be there. But I think

there are so, so many ideas that we need to think about volunteering,

and how that actually creates the sort of society that even if not

everyone wants to see it at the moment, and it is certainly the

society we are going to need to have. Thank you, Madam Deputy

Speaker. I am tried to be here today to support the NCS bill. It is one

of the best things that the last government led by Prime Minister

David Cameron did and I am delighted that the NCS is today being put on a

statutory fishing safeguarding its future as a national institution. It

is going to give hundreds of thousands of young people the

momentum for a young -- lifetime limit of volunteering. When I was at

school and university I chaired our debating societies, and one of the

notions that used to get put up was whether the National Service should

be read instituted, and it was very difficult to argue for that, both

because of the cost and because we did not lead a large force prepared

for military action. But there is lots of evidence of the other

benefits of National Service, which I can see the national citizenship

service. When I need to research these notions I go no further than

my late further -- father who did service in the 1950s with the Royal

Marines and the Durham Light Infantry, and he always would tell

you what a great social leveller the National Service was, because in

basic training you could be there in a dorm with people from Eton, with

stockbrokers, electricians, people from all different walks of life,

every conceivable background, but any pre-existing airs and graces you

had would quickly be squashed by a diet of exercise, hard work,

learning new skills and having to live, eat, sleep, work, do

everything together as a team. And that people who had been through

National Service were able to adapt better to the challenges life threw

at them, and to work better and interact better with people from all

different walks of life. So wind forward 50 years to the National

citizenship service, although we have none of the military training

of National Service, we do have those positive features that we saw

with National Service, the levelling effects with individuals from all

different walks of life coming together, where people are pushed

out of their comfort zones, when they are engaged in challenging

activities on equal footing. We also have the social atmosphere of people

living, eating, cooking together with people from every different

walk of life. And in addition to that the national citizenship

service has provided 8 million hours of voluntary work in the communities

in the UK. Graduates of the national citizenship service are likely to

contribute six hours more per month of voluntary work than people who

have not been through the scheme. Eight out of ten graduates of the

National said the ship service also said that they are more likely --

National Citizen Service that they are more likely to get on with