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All good things come to those who wait. For many young people, this is the reality of the much-delayed youth green paper finally published at the end of July - providing what it promises is actually delivered.

Education secretary Ruth Kelly says the aim of Youth Matters is to "make sure that all young people are given the best chance in life to succeed". To that end, the paper is an instant hit, with its focus on encouraging young people to get involved in new activities and re-engage with their communities. But hidden away at the back of the document is the truth about the funding to back these ambitions: there is no new money available - at least not before April 2008.

On top of this, what money there is for services for young people will be pooled together and entrusted to local authorities in single unprotected - and therefore raidable - pots.

The fact that named individuals in the form of the new children's services directors have been given ultimate responsibility for delivering councils' duty to secure positive activities for all young people ought to inspire confidence. But a similar duty on councils to provide a youth service was clearly set out in Transforming Youth Work in 2002 and - according to many in the field - largely ignored.

With the many competing demands on the time and budgets of the children's services directors there are understandable fears that youth services could yet again miss out. In particular, with one of the green paper's four key challenges being tied to politically important targets on teenage pregnancy, drug misuse, young people not in education, employment or training, and youth crime, there is also a danger that spending on services for young people could end up being skewed towards the few and away from the many.

To ensure that every youth matters - as well as every child - local authorities will have to make sure that money meant for youth services is not diverted elsewhere.