Young People: York

Hugh Bayley: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how many young people in City of York have received (a) education maintenance allowance and (b) the 16 to 19 Bursary Fund in each year since the introduction of that allowance and fund. [163928]

Mr Laws: The numbers of young people in the City of York who have received education maintenance allowance (EMA) in each year since its introduction are shown in the table:

Information on the numbers of young people at particular locations who have received payments from the 16-19 Bursary Fund since it began in September 2011, is not held centrally. Information on payments made in the City of York will be held by the schools, colleges and training providers concerned.

Youth Services

Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education what consultation his Department held with young people before publishing its report entitled Positive for Youth—One year on. [164317]

Mr Timpson: Departmental officials wrote to leading youth organisations, including the British Youth Council which represents young people, during the autumn of 2012 to ask them to provide case studies for the Positive for Youth progress document published on 3 July 2013. Since then, Ministers have met the National Scrutiny Group of young people and other youth organisations on a number of occasions and have discussed progress on Positive for Youth in those meetings.

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Tim Loughton: To ask the Secretary of State for Education which youth bodies his Department consulted about the transfer of responsibility for youth services to the Cabinet Office; and what the dates were of those consultations. [164318]

Mr Timpson: Changes to the organisation of Government are a matter for the Prime Minister, on the advice of the Cabinet Secretary. Discussions about this change have been ongoing for several months and a number of youth organisations, including the National Scrutiny Group of young people, expressed their views on future youth policy in a public letter to the Secretary of State in February 2013. A number of these bodies, including the National Scrutiny Group, the National Council of Voluntary Youth Services, the National Youth Agency, UK Youth, Prince's Trust and the British Youth Council were informed of the decision in advance of its announcement and have welcomed the transfer of responsibility for youth services to the Cabinet Office.

Youth Work

Mr Thomas: To ask the Secretary of State for Education how much funding his Department allocated for youth work in (a) 2010-11, (b) 2011-12 and (c) 2012-13; and if he will make a statement. [164077]

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Mr Timpson: We provide funding for youth services through the Business Rates Retention Scheme. Local authority funding is not ring fenced and so local authorities can allocate resources according to the local context. As our statutory guidance makes clear, local authorities are best placed to decide what services will meet local needs and priorities and how to meet these needs within available resources. Local authorities' planned and actual expenditure on youth services, where it is segregated from other services, is published on the Department for Education website:

http://www.education.gov.uk/childrenandyoungpeople/strategy/financeandfunding/section251

The Department for Education has also awarded grant funding of between £73,000 and £845,000 in 2013-15 to 72 Voluntary, Community and Social Enterprise sector organisations to develop and deliver innovative services for children and young people.

As our report on the progress of Positive for Youth shows, young people are at the heart of shaping and making policy, and at the heart of local delivery. The report lists a number of cross Government commitments and programmes, such as Youth Contract, the Work programme, Traineeships, the Innovation Fund, the Troubled Families programme, National Citizen Service, the Campaign for Social Action and Youth In Action, which are supporting children, young people and families.