Government and local council cuts have let down young Londoners, leaving too many of them at risk of becoming either a victim or a perpetrator of crime. Today, Green London Assembly Member Sian Berry put forward an amendment[1] to the Mayor’s 2019-20[2] budget for £8 million to spend on improving lives for young people.
Sian’s proposed budget amendments:
- £4 million additional cash for the Mayor’s Young Londoners Fund which provides youth education, sport and cultural activities – including for disadvantaged and vulnerable young people. This would help mitigate the huge cuts councils have made to youth services since 2011[3].
- £4 million to support ex-offenders and reduce reoffending. This proposal would boost existing Diversion work by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) and put new funding into groups that support and advise ex-offenders.
Sian says:
“Greens will keep hunting out any new funding we can find for youth work and youth services.
“We are asking the Mayor today to put in £4 million more funding to be distributed via the Young Londoners Fund. This extremely welcome fund, set up last year – following our budget proposals – is oversubscribed, making it easy to see how this money could be put to work on the ground, this year.”
Funding for these proposals will be sourced from the GLA share of the surplus on the business rates levy account, which the Mayor has not yet allocated.
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Notes to editors
[1] Green Group Amendment January 2019: https://www.london.gov.uk/sites/default/files/jan_24_2019_green_amendment_final.pdf
[2] The Mayor’s Budget: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/governance-and-spending/spending-money-wisely/mayors-budget
[3] London’s Lost Youth Service: https://www.london.gov.uk/about-us/london-assembly/assembly-members/publications-sian-berry/publication-sian-berry-londons-lost-youth-services-2018