The Cabinet Office is supporting the ‘Step up to Serve’ campaign by investing £11m in its Youth Social Action Fund and Youth Social Action Journey Fund. Tony Chapman has been appointed to evaluate the National Youth Agencies contribution to the programme supported by O2/Telefonica’s Think Big programme by researching how young people, aged 14-17, can be encouraged to take part in voluntary action. Step up to Serve, which enjoys cross party support, aims to double the number of children and young people involved with social action by 2020.

Cabinet Office Minister Nick Hurd said “We want to make sure that young people develop the skils, values and confidence they need as they move into adulthood.” The aim of the research project is to see how to see how this can be done. The Step up to Serve ‘Generation Citzen’ programme, launched and supported by the Prince of Wales, can be found here.