Outdoor education centres are vital for young people’s mental health – we must save them, MP tells Parliament

On the floor of the House of Commons this week, South Lakes MP Tim Farron urged the Government to provide a bespoke package of support to save outdoor education centres in Cumbria and across the country.

Speaking during a debate in Parliament on COVID-19, Tim said: "It is important that we save our outdoor education centres, which are hugely at risk at this point, not only because it is right to save them, but because this is the moment to deploy them.

"I and others in this Chamber have talked about the impact this period has had on the mental health of young people and their disengagement with education. Those children have lost three months at school, but some of them went back two years as a consequence of all this. In our outdoor education centres, we have the skill and talent to engage young people in learning, to foster a love of learning, to improve their mental health and wellbeing and to engage them with the education process again.

"The Government must bring forward a specialist package, as they have in Scotland, to make sure that we lose no more outdoor education centre jobs and protect all our outdoor education centres"