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Services for Young People

The Minister is generous in giving way, but I am still at a slight loss as to why he is so hostile. Our job is to probe this. We did not say it would cost that much. We said that, if it was scaled up at the current cost, it would cost the amount we stated, and we did so precisely to invite—we hoped—a polite, respectful response from the Ministry about what it thought it might move towards. Derek Twine, chief executive of the Scout Association, noted that"““for the same cost per head that the NCS is anticipating spending in the first tranche of pilots we could provide two or three years' worth of the experience, week by week, for young people in the same age range””." Evidence of that sort led us to probe the matter, hoping that we would get a proper, civil response from the Government in due course.