Unite slams minister for 'fig leaf' league tables for dying youth
service
11 November 2011
The country's biggest union, Unite, has slammed childrens’
minister Tim Loughton for his suggestion that league tables could
improve the beleaguered youth services.
Slamming the announcement as "a fig leaf" and "totally useless”
Unite says, that far from improving the service, under Tim
Loughton's watch the youth service will be the first public service
to vanish altogether.
Tim Loughton has suggested that league tables could be
introduced as a means of deciding when government intervention is
necessary - but as Unite points out, this will be too little, too
late for many needy young people.
Doug Nicholls, Unite national officer, said: "Instead of
throwing a lifeline to a service which is about to go under, Tim
Loughton has come up with this ludicrous idea of a league
table. What does he expect this to show? That thousands of
young people are losing out.
"This is nothing more than a fig leaf to cover up government's
embarrassment at presiding over the death of a once-excellent
service.
"Only 28p per young person is spent per day in this country -
that is half the cost of a chocolate bar, yet Tim Loughton's
government thinks so little of young people he is prepared to
threaten even this meagre funding.
"This league table idea is totally useless and an insult to
young people across the country. The minister needs to dump
this one in the rubbish bin where it belongs and start to talk more
sensibly about urgent action to save this service."
A recent Unite Freedom of Information (FoI) survey has revealed
that under the coalition government spending on young people’s
services has fallen to just 28 pence per young person per day –
less than the cost of a second class stamp.
Spending on services for young people has dropped by an average
of 12.3 per cent in the past 12 months, down from an average of
£116 to £102.49 per year – the most savage cutters are Norfolk,
Somerset, Lancashire, Oxfordshire and Birmingham - all
Conservative-run or Con- Dem-led councils.
Last month, more than 1,000 young people joined the Choose Youth
rally and lobby of parliament to protest against the cuts to the
youth service.
Unite will be releasing further information from its FoI survey
of 430 councils into youth service cuts next week.
ENDS
For more information please contact Chantal Chegrinec, Unite
press office, on 07774 146 777
