Young Alliance calls for youth services transfer

12.00.00am BST (GMT +0100) Sat 27th Aug 2005

Speaking before a meeting with a Northern Ireland Local Government Association working group next week, Young Alliance Chairman Ian James Parsley has called for youth services to be transferred to local authorities.

The North Down Councillor stated, "The Review of Public Administration currently being carried out offers the real prospect of reviewing youth provision.

"The opportunity now exists to create a mode of delivery of government services and advice to young people which will be far more appropriate than the current structures.

"Still we are left with the old-fashioned idea that youth services are about recreational facilities, rather than a true recognition that government has a role in education outside as well as inside schools.

"The most appropriate way to provide education and advice to young people outside the classroom, particularly for those not living within the traditional family unit, is the provision of services, often in conjunction with the voluntary sector, by government bodies close to the communities in which they are growing up. That means that youth service provision must become the responsibility of local government.

"The Review of Public Administration team must not miss the opportunity to make this important change for the good of the next generation."

ENDS