National Citizen Service participants
Cabinet Office figures show the charity for young people will run the initiative in 51 of 144 local authority areas this summer
The Challenge Network will deliver the government’s flagship National Citizen Service scheme in 51 of the 144 local authority areas in which it is being run in summer 2012, according to the Cabinet Office.
New figures, published in parliament yesterday, offer a breakdown of the 30,000 places that will be available on the scheme this summer. They show that most of the places on the scheme will be delivered by voluntary sector organisations.
Under the programme, school-leavers attend seven or eight-week projects that include community work, a physical challenge and a residential placement.
The figures show that the Challenge Network, which was set up by the Shaftesbury Partnership, a social business founded in 2006 by the Conservative peer and former big society adviser Lord Wei, will run the scheme in more areas of the country than any other provider.
The charity Catch22 will run it in 39 local authority areas and the Football League Trust will do so in 24 areas. The volunteering charity Vinspired will run the programme in 16 local authority areas.
Third Sector reported last month that the Challenge Network would receive £7m this year for delivering the NCS scheme.
For a breakdown of who is involved with the programme in different local authorities, see our data map:
View National Citizen Service, summer 2012 in a full screen map
