YMCA says Youth Smart Card Green Paper is Not Enough

The YMCA has criticised the Government’s Green Paper on youth, published yesterday, saying the plans do not have adequate enough funding to make the necessary changes to youth behaviour.

The Government’s Green Paper, issued yesterday, aims to give financial incentives to teenagers to behave well, in a bid to tackle anti-social behaviour among youths.

A statement issued by the YMCA on the paper said that youths in Britain "needed more choice and better facilities for young people" but said that this choice needed "to be genuine".

Although the YMCA commended the government for its Youth Green Paper, entitled Youth Matters, it also criticised the Government for being unrealistic in its budget for the plans, saying that they needed "to be accompanied by new funding to make a real difference."

The scheme works by issuing teenagers with Smartcards on which they can accrue and lose points according to behaviour. Each card will already be charged with £12 of credit and with the points earned youths can then earn discounts at leisure centres, drama clubs and art or dance clubs.

Thirteen to sixteen year olds who are entitled to free school meals will receive an additional £10 - £12 per month. Chronic bad behaviour would lead to the complete deactivation of the card.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair identified one of the focus areas of the Government in working to encourage "respect" instead of yobbish behaviour among youths.

Home Office Minister for Active Citizenship, Hazel Blears, said: "Decent young people with not a lot of money say to me that it sometimes seems that people who behave badly get access to a range of interesting things to do, while they can end up just staying at home watching television."

The YMCA statement said, however: "It will take more than a Smartcard to solve the real issues about respect and antisocial behaviour. The present situation is one of chronic under-funding which has resulted in a real shortage of facilities for young people."

The proposed budget for the Government’s scheme is £40 million, to be spread over two years, which the YMCA said sent "the wrong message about the value we place on our young people. This works out at just over £4 per young person each year."

All 13 to 19-year-olds from low income families are entitled to participate in the scheme.