AQW 9847/22-27

Ms Sian Mulholland
Alliance Party
North Antrim

Tabled Date: 10/04/2024
Answered On Date: 19/04/2024
Priority Written: No

Question:
To ask the Minister of Education to detail the funding opportunities for organisations who want to use a street-based or detached youth work methodology.

Answer:

Feedback from organisations within the voluntary youth sector indicated that the funding process was too prescriptive. Subsequently, since 2023-24, funding opportunity titles no longer state ‘Detached Work’ or ‘Street Based Youth Work’ as a required methodology. Instead, the funding opportunity outlines the assessed need and invites applicants to set out how they will address an identified assessed need when making their application, which may or may not include detached youth work.

There are 95 active Local Area Funding awards continuing into 2024-25. Just over half (53%) of these awards include funding for at least one flexible youth work session per week which may be used to deliver detached youth work, should the award holder believe this is a priority use of the resource in line with assessed need at the local level.