'Sport and Play Can Build Brighter Futures' - new National Youth Strategy from DCMS

The Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) has published Youth Matters: Your National Youth Strategy, which aims to respond to the challenges faced by “the most connected and isolated generation in history.”

A vision for the next decade, the Strategy aims to build a future where all young people have the skills, opportunities and connections to thrive, driven by three shifts across government: 

• From national to local – aiming to make decisions and delivery as close to communities as possible
• From fragmented to collaborative – building government around and with young people, with improved cross-government working
• From excluded to empowered – putting young people in the driving seat through greater co-production and youth engagement 

To deliver these ambitions, the strategy includes a number of new and existing commitments including: 

Ensuring young people can participate fully in high-quality sport and physical activity 

• Using the forthcoming PE and School Sport Partnerships Network and Enrichment Framework to give every young person access to PE, sport and extracurricular opportunities
• Strengthening partnerships between education, local clubs and National Governing Bodies 
• Investing £250m in 100 places over 5 years through Sport England to overcome specific local barriers 
• Running a public-facing campaign to increase awareness of the importance of physical activity  

Providing more places to go 

• Spending £400m on new and upgraded grassroots community sports facilities, increasing access to outdoor spaces and expanding the Better Youth Spaces programme on existing and new youth facilities
• Making better use of underutilised spaces, including school spaces outside school time
• Giving everyone access to a green or blue space within walking distance from home
• Using the Every Child Can Fund to increase disadvantaged young people’s access to enrichment opportunities, including sport 

Improving young people’s connectivity 

• Introducing a new framework in schools to improve pupil experience and sense of belonging
• Investing £15m over 3 years in youth workers, volunteers and trusted adults
• Creating and expanding programmes within the sports sector to boost wellbeing, tackle loneliness and build positive relationships
• Launching two pathfinder programmes with Rugby League Cares to help boys build connections 

Empowering youth voice 

• Creating a new Youth Policy Network in DCMS to inform government decisions affecting young people
• Making co-design of DCMS-funded youth programmes a requirement unless good reason why not
• Holding an annual national hearing on delivery and publishing an interim delivery report in 2027
• Conducting an updated Mental Health of Children and Young People survey to understand wellbeing challenges 

Ahead of the development and publication of the new strategy, DCMS commissioned a report to give a direct insight into the lives of young people in England. Informed by more than 14,000 responses, the Youth Matters: State of the Nation report identifies four priority areas to inform the Strategy: 

• Community, connection and belonging
• Physical, mental and digital wellbeing
• Skills and opportunities for life and work
• Safety and security 

Commenting on the new Strategy, Youth Sport Trust CEO Ali Oliver MBE said: 

“As the new National Youth Strategy correctly identifies, this generation of young people is the most technologically connected, yet the most socially and emotionally isolated in history. Faced with challenges to their mental health, increasing loneliness and unhappy about access to activities and services in their local area, a generation’s call for change must be heeded. We are pleased to see the role sport and play can have in building brighter futures is reflected across the new Strategy. 

Read more on the Youth Sport Trust response