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When he was chancellor, Rishi Sunak tried to scrap the national volunteering scheme, which was similar to the new “national service” scheme, according to sources who worked with him at the time.
He argued that the National Citizen Service (NCS) was not value for money, but Boris Johnson stepped in to save the programme. I They said.
Although the NCS has not been abolished, its budget has been cut by more than two-thirds since the last general election.
Founded under Prime Minister David Cameron, the scheme offers teenagers boarding courses that teach leadership and teamwork skills so they can contribute to their local communities, as well as community-based volunteering programmes.
The policy has much in common with the Prime Minister’s proposed national service plan, in which a small proportion of 18-year-olds would serve a year in the military, while the majority would do 25 days of mandatory volunteer service instead.
The NCS was intended to deliver on Lord Cameron’s “Big Society” promises made after the 2010 election.
The scheme allows 16- and 17-year-olds to sign up for a heavily subsidised five-day residential course at £95, which claims to help them gain the skills to succeed in employment or community volunteering.
There will also be “Community-Based Experiences” that will include year-round activities for youth.
The scheme, which is almost entirely funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, saw its budget fall by 68% between 2019 and last year, from £158.6 million to £50.3 million.
The trust that runs it said it would need to cut staff and make “significant efficiency gains” to continue operating.
A source involved in discussions about the system’s future when Mr Sunak was chancellor said: “We tried very hard to stop Rishi abolishing the current NHS, which is now a shadow of what was started in 2010.”
Another source confirmed the story.
Conservative campaigners denied that the prime minister wanted to abolish national service but said the party would learn from past experience in creating a new system which would be compulsory rather than voluntary, with around 30,000 young people joining the army for a year rather than volunteering outside the workforce.
Asked why the NCS budget had been cut, the minister cited the need to control spending following the pandemic and energy crisis.
Foreign Secretary Anne-Marie Trevelyan told the BBC: “The reality is that we have faced a series of incredibly costly crises over the past few years and, as any sensible government would do, we have prioritised supporting families, businesses and communities to get through the massive disruption caused by the coronavirus pandemic.”
“And then of course the shock of Putin’s illegal invasion of Ukraine, the turmoil that has affected our country as well as the rest of the world, has caused oil prices to soar, food prices to soar, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak has made a very firm call to support our economy.”