Calls for youth funding boost

FRESH calls for youth services to get statutory funding were made by a Barwell campaigner at the Liberal Democrat party conference.

Mathew Hulbert called for out-of-school, council-run youth services to receive statutory footing at the party’s national Spring conference in Southport.

Mr Hulbert said in his speech: “Youth workers, at their best, are able to reach young people that formal structures like schools often can’t.

“The work of youth workers can, by building trust and confidence over time, help a young person do better and achieve more when back in the classroom.

“Youth work can and does not only change lives but also save them, ensuring young people, who might otherwise take a wrong turn, stay on the straight and narrow.”

The campaigner and former Lib Dem borough councillor for Barwell was speaking in the policy motion debate Every Child Empowered: Education for a Changing World, moved by Layla Moran MP.

He called for local authorities to put an end to cutting back youth services when seeking budget savings

Mr Hulbert was Hinckley and Bosworth Borough Council’s Children and Young People’s Champion from 2011 to 2015 and authored the current Lib Dem youth services policy.

He said: “I was privileged to take part in this debate and have the opportunity, on a national platform, to re-state my party’s commitment to and support for a statutory youth service.