Member News
By Katharine Marriott - 24th June 2011
The government's flagship eight-week voluntary National Citizen Service (NCS) for 16 year-olds is too expensive, a group of MPs has reported.
At a cost of £1,182 per young person, it would cost £355m to provide a universal offer of the programme, even if there was only a 50 per cent take up, according to the latest report from the education select committee.
MPs on the committee argue the cost is insupportable considering how drastically and disproportionately year-round youth services have been cut. Cuts to existing youth services have ranged from 20-100 per cent.
The National Citizen Service (NCS) is an eight-week voluntary summer programme for 16 year-olds, which as part of the prime minister's Big Society commitment, is designed to support young people to develop the skills and attitudes they need to become active and responsible citizens, fully engaged in their communities.
The cost of the service is a stark contrast to a similar programme in Germany which costs £1,228 per young person – but for an entire year's work-based volunteering programme.
Graham Stuart MP, chair of the committee said: "The government's idea of using the NCS to inspire young people to engage with their communities, mix socially and build their skills is a good one.
"However, the pilots are proving to be expensive and full roll-out would be hard to justify when cuts, which the government itself calls disproportionate, are impacting existing youth services provided by local authorities."
Rather than inventing another new programme, the MPs suggested the government could introduce NCS as a form of accreditation or badging of existing organisations and programmes.
Fiona Blacke, chief executive of the National Youth Agency, suggested that the Duke of Edinburgh's gold award could count as a young person's NCS.
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