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Select committee inquiry

National Citizen Service inquiry

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Public Accounts Committee · Opened 17 January 2017 · Closed 17 January 2017

Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗

What the inquiry looked at

“National Citizen Service (NCS) has had some early successes but it is too soon to assess its long-term impact, according to a report by the National Audit Office (NAO). Young people have been positive about the NCS experience, with 84% of participants in 2015 saying they would recommend NCS to others. External evaluations on how a sample of young people feel and perceive themselves three to five months and 16 months after the programme also show NCS has an initial positive impact on participants. It is too early to say, however, whether the programme is going to meet its long-term objectives of contributing to a more responsible, cohesive and engaged society. NCS has grown rapidly since the programme was piloted in 2011 and 2012, and an estimated 93,000 16- and 17-year-olds took part in NCS in 2016. Participation in NCS is not, however, increasing as fast as the Office for Civil Society (OCS) or the NCS Trust hoped, with none of the annual participation targets being met since 2010. If the number of participants continues to increase at the current annual rate of 23%, there would be 213,000 participants in 2020–21 against an aim of 360,000. According to the NAO report, the OCS and the Trust can do more to overcome the barriers to participation. Funding has been available for all those who want to participate in NCS, with the government committing £1.26bn of grant funding between 2016–20, but young people do not attend for a range of reasons. National Audit Office report According to the NAO report, the OCS and Trust have not, so far, prioritised reducing costs, although the Trust told the NAO that reducing costs is now one of four main priorities. The NAO report found that the cost per participant to date has been higher than anticipated and needs to fall. Funding made available as part of the autumn 2015 spending review implied a unit cost of £1,562 per participant in 2016. The OCS and Trust currently expect to spend £1,863 for each of the 93,000 participants to complete the programme in 2016. The cost per participant needs to fall by 29% to £1,314 in 2019 for the Trust to provide 300,000 places and stay within the funding envelope. A focus on growth also encouraged the Trust to use certain media channels, such as television, in addition to social media. It also led the Trust to pay providers an estimated £10 million, in line with the contract, for places that were not filled.”

The committee's words, from the inquiry page on parliament.uk ↗.

What it found

In the committee's words, from the summary of 46th Report - National Citizen Service ↗

Early indications, from the Office for Civil Society’s (OCS) evaluations, suggest that the National Citizen Service (NCS), a programme bringing together groups of 16- to 17-year-olds to undertake activities, has had a real impact on those participating. It has improved their confidence, developed team-building and life skills, and increased their awareness of the local community. However, what remains to be seen is whether NCS will become a ‘rite of passage’ and meet its ambitious targets for increasing the number of participants or achieve its long-term societal aims. Without achieving both these, at a cheaper cost per participant, NCS may no longer be justifiable and the future of the programme could be called into doubt. Now is the time to think radically about what can be learnt from achievements to date and outline what is needed to grow NCS, bring costs under control and ensure NCS becomes a real and sustainable investment in our young people. The National Citizen Service Bill also provides an opportunity to revisit the Trust’s governance and management arrangements. The Cabinet Office set up the NCS Trust as a community interest company almost wholly funded by government, but it has not adopted the transparency and robust governance arrangements we would expect to see.

What the government said

No government response is linked to this report.

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How the inquiry ran

Each dot is a dated item listed on this page, from the inquiry's opening on 17 January 2017 to 3 January 2018.

  1. Oral evidence 6 Feb 2017
  2. Report 14 Mar 2017
  3. Correspondence 3 letters

What it recommended

The committee's recommendations are not listed here yet. Read them in 46th Report - National Citizen Service ↗ on parliament.uk.

Evidence

Oral evidence sessions 1

Correspondence 3 letters