Tired of hanging around: Using sport and leisure activities to prevent anti-social behaviour by young people is an Audit Commission report.
It finds that sport and leisure projects involving music, film-making or football, when designed in consultation with young people, can help stop them from drifting into anti-social behaviour.
But these projects struggle with a funding system that is wasteful, inefficient and bureaucratic. Youth workers, who should be devoting their attention to young people, can spend a third of their time managing budgets and chasing new funding. Even when funding is secured, it is often fixed and short-term, with no guarantee of renewal.
The report sets out recommendations for councils working with their local strategic partnerships, and for central government, to encourage improvements in the design of projects and the funding systems that are fundamental to their success.
