Nicholas Soames: To ask the Minister for the Cabinet Office what recent assessment he has made of the progress of the National Citizen Service. [184692]

Mr Hurd, Minister for Civil Society: Since it began the National Citizen Service (NCS) has created a total of 1 million hours of social action by young people in local communities across the country. More than 70,000 young people have taken part in NCS since 2011, with over 40,000 participants in 2013 alone—a substantial increase from 26,000 in 2012.

A robust and independent evaluation of the 2012 pilots was published in July 2013 and underlined the success and value of NCS. It showed a return on investment of £2.8 for every £1 invested in the programme, and that 98% of participants said that they would recommend the programme to a friend.

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