My Department is represented on the implementation and advisory committee for the White Paper on voluntary activity by the principal officer in the youth affairs section.
Responsibility for voluntary activity in the education sector spans a number of units within the Department but primarily youth affairs and further education sections while the Department's social inclusion unit has overall responsibility for our input into the overall national anti-poverty strategy process.
The youth affairs section operates a grant-in-aid scheme for major national and regional youth work organisations involved in the provision of youth work programmes and services. The vast bulk of these projects are locally or community based. The section also administers a special projects scheme for disadvantaged youth, all of which are community-based. In addition, a local youth clubs grant scheme is in operation to assist local youth clubs in the running costs of their clubs, e.g., start-up grant, equipment, insurance, etc.