This week, the House of Commons debated the National Citizen Service Bill. This bill, introduced by the Government, is designed to secure and strengthen the funding and legislative basis for the National Citizen Service (NCS) programme. NCS is a chance for 16 and 17 year olds across England to take part in social action projects and build skills for work and life.
NCS brings together young people from different backgrounds and helps them develop greater confidence, self-awareness and responsibility. It encourages personal and social development by working on skills like leadership, teamwork and communication. Participants develop a social action project to deal with a local issue they’re passionate about, and spend 30 hours putting the project into action in their community.
Since the programme started, more than 200,000 people have now taken part, and surveys have shown that participants across the different programmes had positive perceptions of the difference NCS has made to them – around 8 in 10 participants believed that NCS had taught them something new about themselves, while even more were proud of what they had achieved.
Late last year, I was able to attend a reception for NCS leaders in Parliament. The prestigious NCS leaders programme brings together 100 of the year’s NCS ‘graduates’ (participants who have finished the course), selected for their personal development and social impact during their time with NCS. I was delighted to be able to meet representatives from the Forest, who took part in the local programme in Gloucester, and see first-hand the fantastic set up of the NCS programme.
The NCS bill currently going through Parliament will allow the NCS programme to expand from its current capacity of 80,000 young people to 300,000 by 2020, supported by £1.2 billion of government funds. NCS has the potential to grow into a national institution, and so I am pleased that the Government has fully committed to supporting this fantastic youth programme which does so much for so many young people.
NCS has become the fastest-growing youth movement in this country for 100 years, and if you would like to find out more or get involved in the programme, visit www.ncsyes.co.uk.