Positive stories february 2014

Youth Voice: Positive Stories February 2014

Young people at the Votes at 16 Lobby

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Youth Voice: Positive Stories A report by youth representatives and the workers that support them February 2014 Welcome to the February 2014 edition of Positive Stories. Our format reflects part of our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of a Child Article 13 - Freedom of expression ‘Every child must be free to say what they think and to seek and receive all kinds of information, as long as it is within the law, UNICEF UK).

The content is split into two parts: 1. Positive activities stories from youth representatives, including Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs), Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (DMYPs), Youth Councillors, Young Mayors and Deputy Young Mayors 2. Update from support workers on the activities of the youth groups they work with and support.

The British Youth Council will share this report regionally and nationally, with local councillors and MPs, and certain media outlets, in order to raise the profile of the fantastic local work that we know is happening every day.

The case studies and stories of the work of young people in their local communities are reproduced here in their own words. If you would like to find out more about one of the projects you read about in this report, please email: mail@byc.org.uk The online survey remains open and we produce reports once a month, providing young people the opportunity to shout about the great work they have been doing in their local areas during the previous month. Previous reports are available online: www.byc.org.uk/uk-work/youthvoice The British Youth Council would like to thank all the workers and young people who took the time to promote and complete February’s survey and we look forward to hearing more from everyone over the coming months.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Contents Young People’s Stories East of England London North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and Humber Scotland Wales

4 6 12 14 15 22 25 37 39

Support Worker’s Stories East Midlands East of England North East Yorkshire and Humber Scotland

42 47 55 61 65

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Young People’s Stories

East of England Suffolk Kate Reynolds, 17, Member of Youth Parliament I attended the Equality4U event in London this week as part of the young women's campaign. I was inspired by the group discussions and fresh ideas coming from the creative campaigning workshop. I later went on to create an online petition to increase coverage of women's sport.

I attended a planning meeting for Suffolk Assembly of Youth (SAY). I shared my ideas about the best route forward for an event to engage young people in Suffolk. I have been involved in community gardening project called incredible edible. This involved both physically gardening and attending a meeting with other gardening groups in Ipswich to discuss collaboration.

Matthew Percy, 20, Member of Youth Parliament On Wednesday 12th February I was proud to attend a national Lobby of Parliament that I had helped to organize with the Votes at 16 Coalition. The march and lobby was well attended by hundreds of young people and many more took part in online action. There were so many young people involved that the Commons Officials struggled to accommodate us with us at times having to fill 2 large committee rooms. I think that speaks volumes as to why votes at 16 should be introduced. Once in the Palace of Westminster I got to speak to Conservative MP for Ipswich Ben Gummer who whilst admitting to remaining 'agnostic' on the issue (sadly) was keen to hear why I felt that votes at 16 was important for our democracy. I also met with Jessica Asato, Labour's Parliamentary Candidate for Norwich North who I am pleased to say fully supports the campaign. I also spoke with Yasmin Qureshi, Labour MP for Bolton South East who is also in favour.

Some people continue to ask why Votes at 16 is needed and important. Here is my answer: Scottish young people will be given the vote in a major referendum why can't they - and indeed those across the UK - be able to vote for their MP, MEPs, Cllrs and other elected representatives.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories To deprive them of a vote in these important elections now is just lunacy as a precedent has been set.

As for the reasons why the voting age should be 16 at that age you can get a job, pay taxes and National Insurance (which are both set by elected politicians), get married, ride a moped (and drive at 17) and pay associated taxes and insurance, you can legally live on your own and start a family, you can join the Armed Forces, you have to stay in an adult ward whilst in hospital and give your own medical consent, become a Company Director, become a Governor of a NHS Trust and much more. If you are considered responsible to do all of the above at 16 then why on earth shouldn't you have the right to vote?

I also feel that the voting age should be 16 as it is our elected representatives that make decisions about youth provision such as youth clubs - which have been cut back a lot since the Coalition Government was formed in 2010 as a result of politicians seeing them as an easy target because those that use them cannot vote. Why shouldn't the young people who use these services have some sort of say in them (and of course other issues) democratically at the ballot box? For all of the other reasons above 16 is the right age for this.

Natasha Graves, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I attended 2 meetings in which I helped plan a youth engagement event for Suffolk.

The aim of the event will be to celebrate the work young people do in their community, and to raise awareness for the Suffolk Assembly of Youth, which has the aim to promote youth voice. I also attended the BYC’s Equality4U convention in London in which I gained valuable campaigning skills which I brought back to my constituency. Following the event I created an online petition to help the Women’s Liberation movement, the petition asked for a wider variety of body shapes to be represented on online clothing websites.

Waveney Sam Kenward, 17, Member of Youth Parliament February was a month of decisions for me. Firstly, I decided I will step down from UKYP in April so it can allow someone else to take the brilliant opportunities UKYP offers. It sounds negative but there is some positivity. I have been honoured to serve for FOUR years and it has been brilliant to be part of a brilliant organisation. Also, I am looking forward to embracing new challenges in terms of school work, political activity and charity work.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories So, thank you for making the 4 years a good 4 years. I have been able to develop many skills including speaking publically. On the issue of this, myself and a friend, spoke at our school's presentation evening to help inspire our GCSE students. It was quite refreshing to speak to the year below about a huge part of education and try and help them with it. It’s these things which are always interesting to do and I will probably have more time to do these things after April!

Thank you for reading!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

London Croydon Maryam Ghafo, 16, Youth Councillor Members of Croydon youth council gave out surveys to find out what young people aged 11-19 think the main problems are within Croydon that affect them. The results provided us with two main priorities for the current year and after receiving 691 surveys, the results showed us that bullying and crime and safety were the two most popular problems. We are now trying to tackle the two problems for the current year by organizing anti-bullying workshops and events and workshops in schools with the police around knowing your rights in society.

A few members of the youth council and youth parliament went to the launch of a local Croydon radio- 'edutainment radio' who encourage young people to have a voice and get involved, where we promoted our campaigns and aims for the year as well as talking to many other young people and organizations working with young people.

On Thursday 20th February, members of the youth council took part in a 'team building trip' in London to teach people how to actively take part in a group and cooperate effectively so they can use their skills learnt to contribute to our campaigns in order to see a difference being made. At the moment we are currently planning and organizing our events, to eventually hold them and make a make a positive change.

Wandsworth Youth Representatives This month has been busier than ever. We can’t believe how lucky we are to be involved in so many great projects!

What were our #youthvoice highlights? Read on and we will tell you:

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Listening to Children’s Voices film OMG! This Thursday of February half-term, we helped film and interview all types of young people from across our borough.

We captured their inspiring voices on what they thought about Wandsworth Children’s Services. Everyone from: Children Looked After to, Young Carers to Youth Offending to, Early Years, to, Youth Centres, to, Primary School Students to, young people with learning difficulties and disabilities and many more!

It was incredibly to see all the different groups of young people being supported by Wandsworth. We felt very proud to live in this community.

Social media training to Heads of Service We planned, designed and delivered social media training to four of Wandsworth’s Children’s Services Heads of Services, including Sean Dunkling, Assistant Director, Young People & Learning. We will be delivering session 2 (after they have had some time to practice) in May half term.

What came out of it we hear you ask? The group came up with four themes to focus on at our next session, which are: 1. IT safety and awareness with young people and staff 2. How workers use it professionally vs. personally 3. Social media policy / strategy 4. How to remain vigilant Presenting to Youth Overview and Scrutiny We presented the results of the Youth Service Commissioning consultation to senior decision makers. The result? Well, our consultation will feed into the specification and contract monitoring of the Youth Service. Not bad for a days #youthvoice #volunteering Community Grant Six of us sat on the Community Grant panel to dish out the first lot of funding to youth groups in Wandsworth. We have £175,000 this year to grant to local groups. We love going through the forms with adults to see what ideas groups come up with, and what needs additional funding in our borough.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Catch22 PlanDo So Youth Council peeps – this is for you!

We spoke to Catch22 who are launching a brand new app to help those of us wanting to project manage our own #youthvoice campaigns.

They are looking for testers –we signed up on the spot.

Have a look at the animation: http://tinyurl.com/ox3ewel We are going to ask young people who apply to the Youth Opportunity Fund to use it and help them. We will keep you posted!

Follow us: Twitter @WBCYouthCouncil / Facebook @Wandsworth Youth Council

Redbridge Beatrice, 17, and David, 17, Members of Youth Parliament Youth Debate and £100K Spend on Young People In October as part of Local Democracy Week, we held our very first Youth Debate, which was part of our DMYP (Sabah Mohammed)’s pledge.

The unique event was held in the Council Chamber and was well attended by the young people of Redbridge. The panel consisted of various councillors and Cabinet members (Leader, Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children Services). In order for political neutrality, we made sure that all political parties in Redbridge were represented on the day.

The Youth Debate was conducted in the style of BBC’s Question Time and chaired by the editor of a local newspaper. To conclude the Youth Debate, an electronic vote was conducted in order to identify the issues that young people felt most strongly about. The top three issues that emerged from the vote are Safety of young people in Redbridge, Mental Health Issues and Youth Unemployment in Redbridge.

As a result, Redbridge Council has given the Youth Council up to £100K to be spent on the priorities from the Youth Debate. Since the splendid announcement of the £100k, the Young Cabinet has had several meetings on how we should spend the money. Additionally, we are currently holding an online consultation for young people to voice their opinions on the proposals of how we are going to spend the money. This is also leading up to a Young Cabinet Meeting in April, where both the young people of Redbridge and various councillors will scrutinize our work.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Richmond upon Thames Jack Lewis, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Richmond Youth Council – Busy representing young people!

The Richmond Youth Council (RYC) has been very busy over the past month. The RYC is divided into three working groups, each tackling a different area of concern to young people. These areas are Physical Health, Risky Behaviour and Emotional Health and Wellbeing (EHWB).

Richmond Youth Council Physical Health group is currently working with NHS Richmond on a project regarding the National Child Measurement Programme for year 5 students. Their plan is to work with year 5’s to develop a resource creating more awareness amongst years 5’s about the programme. RYC have undertaken Focus Group Training in preparing them to undertake focus groups with year 5 pupils to ensure their views inform the development of the resource.

The Richmond Youth Council Risky Behaviour group is also currently working with NHS Richmond as well as the Richmond Youth Enquiry Service in producing several films that highlight issues such as drug and alcohol abuse.

The films will later be placed on the London Borough of Richmond website, for viewing by young people. They have currently undertaking a wide range of training on many risky behaviour issues which they use to inform the development of their films. The Richmond Youth Council Emotional Health and Wellbeing group are creating a workshop for young carers. There will be two versions of this workshop: one will be delivered to young carers (with the purpose of giving those coping strategies for their role) and the other will be presented to school pastoral managers and other relevant professionals. The group has recently completed a peer research project finding out what are the key issues for young carers. This important information will help them to formulate the workshop.

The RYC is also conducting projects that involve volunteers from all of the three working groups.

The Youth Scrutiny Panel, which is a partnership piece of work with Richmond Democratic Services (a panel of young people that scrutinize issues of interest to young people, and give resulting recommendations to the Council) have undertaken a review of careers guidance services in schools. As part of this, they have interviewed head teachers and conducted their own independent research. The results will be presented to the Council’s Overview and Scrutiny Panel in March.

In addition, a the Richmond Youth Council’s Safeguarding group conducted peer research into the issue of safeguarding back in the summer of 2013, and they have now produced a report that has been presented to the Local Safeguarding Board.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

As a result, the London Borough of Richmond wishes to commission funding to a new advertising campaign that will raise awareness of safeguarding issues amongst young people. Working on this campaign will start in March.

Last, but certainly not least, we have the Stop and Search project. Myself and the rest of the Community Police Partnership’s (CPP) Stop and Search Monitoring group has found that there is significant disquiet amongst young people in relation to stop and search. The Youth Council has responded to this by undertaking a peer research project into young people’s views on stop and search. We have just finished our research, and the resulting data will be compiled by the CPP and analysed further by the RYC (with the ultimate aim being a presentation of a report to the Council, on 8th April). In the meantime, the CPP and RYC will be holding a focus group with young people who have previously been stopped and searched. The purpose of this will be to collect more opinions that will be entered into the report.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North West Cheshire West Ciarรกn O'Shea, 17, Youth Representative Following the successful formation of the Cheshire West Youth Senate, I joined with around 10 other members, some of whom may well be voted in as MYPs next week, to discuss representation in our area. The meeting was very fruitful, with communications greatly discussed as well as a whole host of external speakers coming in to talk to us about what we do and how we can help them by representing the young people in our area.

This is a huge step in Cheshire West's youth participation history, as the Youth Senate is the largest group of young people that we have ever assembled to represent and to make decisions. I sincerely hope that we can do some excellent work and that we can do our LA proud.

Wigan Jilly McKiernan, 19, Member of Youth Parliament Here in Wigan and Leigh (as in many places across the country) the current Members of Youth Parliament are winding down their term of office and new candidates are campaigning and running for election to replace them.

Our young people started their campaign by attending a training session in October run by one of our current MYPs, throughout this session they learnt all about what it means to be an MYP and what kind of things they might be expected to do. From the training session 4 young people decided they were keen to stand for elections. In a matter of weeks they were out in various locations across Wigan filming their election video, in which they spoke for a few minutes about their manifestos and what qualities made them stand out. Since then the videos have been shown across the borough, throughout schools and youth groups, while young people aged between 11-18 have been given the opportunity to vote for their preferred candidate.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Before we find out the results in a our official ceremony on the 25th of February, the candidates will visit the some of the boroughs biggest shopping centers to promote the elections and they will be having voting booths so young people can vote while they shop!

Once the young people have visited the shopping centers, they’ll have one last chance to campaign for votes. On the 21st of February the Wigan Youth Cabinet will take over Wigan Youth Zone for one night only, where the candidates will be given the chance to present themselves in front of hundreds of young people who will then be shown the voting booths and given the chance to vote.

The official ceremony will mark the ending of the current MYPS two year term of office, it will be held in Leigh Town Hall. It will play host to many key speakers from the council including the current Mayor who will officially announce the results (which will have been counted by the Councils Democratic Services). The ceremony will also contain speeches from the current MYPs as they talk about their favorite memories and how much they have gained from their time in office.

You can follow the progress of our new candidates as well as our big events on @JillyDanielMYP.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South East Hampshire Sam Longmore, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Recently I have had my first meeting with the MP for New Forest East, Dr Julian Lewis, to discuss both national campaigns! He was very intrigued by both: giving his full support for the CFL (and also giving me some pointers on how to push it further in government!) he also said that he was 60/40 about Votes @ 16.... He said that he could be 'swayed' in favour of it, reminding me that the government has no immediate plans for introducing a reduced voting age.

Also, I have been working alongside the Road Safety Team in Hampshire County Council, promoting a new campaign called 'Street Sense'. It has been going brilliantly!! We have recently organized a production for the local college students, teaching them about road safety- especially as they are able to drive. To get the message across and for it to really hit home, relatives of deceased crash victims came in to talk to the students.

It was a great opportunity to both meet with Dr Lewis and help to organize the production, as in both cases, I have been able to take something away and learn from it.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South West Bristol James Gibson, 15, Young Mayor This month, Rondene Vassel and myself have just been elected as young mayors. The elections took place internally, with each candidate giving on a short presentation on what they would do as one of Bristol young mayors. All of the presentations were excellent - demonstrating the extraordinary passion and talent of young people in our city.

I'm looking forward to working with young people and adults alike to bring about meaningful change for Bristol's youth.

Devon Youth Representative Stand Up Speak Up, the children in care council for Devon met this month and began discussion on our 2014 campaigns/projects. We were joined by 3 new members who really enjoyed our meeting and are hoping to join us at our March meeting.

During the 'Updates' section of our meeting we heard from one member who has been working hard campaigning on the Devon Care leavers grant and is taking part in national events and meetings. We also had updates about our website, local groups and training opportunities.

The main part of our meeting involved action planning for our three main campaigns/projects for this year which have come about from a consultation with young people on the Children in Care Pledge. One of these is looking at the complaints process and making sure every young person in care knows how to make a complaint and more importantly has the confidence to complain.

We finished our meeting by hearing from our participation workers about upcoming work and consultations and feedback on what has been done since our last meeting.

Finally, for those that wanted, there was the opportunity to stay on and take part in a video project to create a short video that will be used to train social care staff in how to listen to children and young people. We really enjoyed working on this and all shared stories where we

Youth Voice: Positive Stories had felt unlistened to and discussed how this made us feel. We hope to have this video finished by mid March.

Dorset James Jones, 13, Member of Youth Parliament I am glad to say, that last week on Thursday 27th February. I was re-elected as a member of youth parliament for another term. And have already start my manifesto points for which I was campaigning upon: More life skills in schools, as well as Positive publicity for young people. I am very happy to be re-elected by the young people of South west to represent them in the choices which effect their economy and lives.

Gloucestershire Nathan Howarth, 15, Member of Youth Parliament I had a trip to Taunton for the South West meeting. Were we as a group had are mini films about local heroes. We then want on to have a question time with a member of labour party and conservative James Craknel. It was a informative debate on Europe. Then I was working on the NHS youth forum, to look at the communication between health care professionals and teenagers.

Callum Coles, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I attended a regional convention in Taunton with my fellow D/MYP's from the South West. At this meeting our short films were unveiled that we produced in the previous month. We also discussed the adopt a Lord part of our National Campaign for votes at 16 and I have decided on a potential Lord from my area to 'Adopt'. We were also briefed for our next regional meeting a residential in Devon - so that we can adequately prepare.

Plymouth Jon Cummings, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament For me the election was both very stressful and very enjoyable at the same time, it's not often you get the privilege of engaging with your peers in a way that involves both empathizing with their problems and coming up with ways to solve them. Being on the campaign trail was vital for

Youth Voice: Positive Stories me, as someone who is interested in politics, in connecting politics with real people and their lives, it's often easy to forget that every statistic is a real person and that political theory and ideology isn't the be all and end all. However whilst it was very enjoyable, reading the turnout statistics I was disappointed to see that whilst there was a record number of votes, for which Sarah and the team should be congratulated, turnout was still frustratingly low.

To improve this I think we need a combination of two things, a greater presence of UKYP in all schools, all year round, to make sure that every eligible voter knows exactly what UKYP does, what it stands for and also feels some kind of connection with their current MYP's and DMYP's and future candidates.

Flexibility in the electoral process is also key as currently schools are forced to conduct the election in a way that may not suit them, something that will turn off schools who are vital in this electoral process, therefore I propose we allow schools to choose between the electronic system used this year and the old fashioned ballot, which has been the electoral system for UKYP in the past. However I am aware that all these proposals will increase the workload for both Sarah and her team and the MYPs and DMYPs and recognize that all of these campaigns may not be successful.

My campaign itself is centered around opportunity, firstly in making sure that the huge gap between the employment and business world and the world of your average teenager is bridged, with working partnerships between schools and employers, that I hope will bring more work experience and employment opportunities long after I am gone. But also making sure that equality of opportunity is achieved for all the young people in this city, this involves reaching out to the most hard pressed in our community, Plymouth's young carers and young people in care face many challenges at home that inevitably they bring into school. Therefore we must do more to bring the already good council support to more of those who need it, because every young person in this city deserves the right to a childhood without the burden of responsibility that most of us cannot begin to comprehend.

Finally, I want to deliver more independent political education in our schools and eventually the vote at 16. I want to reconnect young people with politics and political activism, to open their eyes to the possibilities that politics brings to make a difference to the lives of everyone in this country. Young people in the UK are ready, it's time they are allowed to have their say. Thanks for taking the time to read my thoughts on the election and my campaign, and I hope they prove to be useful.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Kath Newnham, Member of Youth Parliament My name is Katherine Newnham for Plymstock school and I found out about youth parliament through an assembly that we had a few months ago. It was mentioned in the assembly that we would have the opportunity to put forward our own views and ideas on things that we consider as being important in Plymouth. I decided to become a candidate with a campaign based around mental health.

I personally feel that there isn't enough facilities for people with mental health issues in Plymouth and I don't think that GP's have a very strong understanding of mental health. The number of people in Plymouth that suffer from mental health issues had increased dramatically over the past few years, and I don't feel that there is enough support for these people, therefore I want to make my mark by giving these people the help and support that they truly need. With this campaign and all of the support I was lucky enough to get elected, and over the forthcoming year I wish to succeed with my campaign to the best of my ability.

Sarah Staples, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament Standing as a candidate for UKYP was probably one of the best decisions of my life! All of the workers made it such an enjoyable experience! I chose to stand to disprove the urban legend that young people today know nothing about, and are not interested in politics. This along with my desire to improve cultural an artistic facilities and events within the city, these beliefs formed the basis of my three campaigns.

My campaign is focused around accessibility and awareness.

By improving‌ Access to work experience and employment by creating links between employers and schools. Basic teaching of politics in schools. Cultivate culture within the city of Plymouth.

Shannon Kowalski, Member of Youth Parliament I found the campaigning period to be exciting and liberating, I ran in the elections last year too. so many more new faces and loads more candidates than last year shows that Youth parliament in really making it's mark across Plymouth. When I got voted in a MYP I was ecstatic and happy to know I had achieved what I wanted and worked towards via campaign. It made me feel as though people were listening to me and supported my ideologies.

My campaign is based around sexual health, I want to un-stigmatise sexual health screening. I also want there to be more opportunities available for full sexual screening and for more precise information about sexual health to be taught in schools and advertised. Many younger people are ignored when it comes to sexual health mostly because people don't want to believe there are so

Youth Voice: Positive Stories many young people who are sexually active. we need to stop masking the issue and address it's needs. There are sexual health aspects in the community and school available to fro younger adolescents buy I believe this is not thorough enough and I want to strive to make a difference

Somerset Ellen Collard, 17, Member of Youth Parliament I have spent two days this month allocating funding to young people of Somerset, through the community grant scheme Somerset have! It’s been a brilliant few days and it was a real privilege to be able to make such crucial decisions representing my constituents. My deputy and I have also been very busy planning some workshops and ideas for our campaign on volunteering!

Thrinayani Ramakrishnan, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month has been a very busy month as well as an exciting one, as I really got to make significant progress on my campaign that got me elected as a Member of UK Youth Parliament.

My campaign is youth unemployment and giving young people skills for the world of work. I finalized a survey that I made for young people in schools and colleges in which I aim to find out what employment skills young people have and what they need.

Also this month, I applied to be on the 2014 youth select committee on votes at 16 who are a committee who present evidence for or against the votes at 16 campaign. I update my twitter account called @youthofsomerset everyday which is an account that I created. From this account I tweet employment skills for young people and other tips and advice on the world of work.

Swindon Naheda Miah, 18, Youth Representative My two years under youth parliament has officially finished and it sure has gone quickly. In my time I've met so many new people: MPs, Councillors, the list is endless! Out of everyone, the young people of Swindon has inspired me the most. I tried my best to achieve what I set out local musicians on radio stations, leisure centres and buses are considering to reduce their prices, build better for relationships for young people and police officers and my most important role listening to you guys!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories If I am to be honest, I couldn't thank you enough everyone who voted for me enough, you guys helped me discover a passion I didn't realise I had. Both learning about politics and working with young people. After doing this, I want to always work with young people.

Torbay Isaac Frewin, 17, Member of Youth Parliament This month Torbay Youth Parliament has been busy as usual. Over the period of mid-January to mid-February, we have been organizing and conducting our elections and getting to know our candidates. This has been a great time as we have met plenty of keen young people with a passion for improving Torbay and welcomed several great and enthusiastic new members to the Torbay UKYP team. However, while this has been an exciting time for us all down here, it has also been sad; the 15th of February saw two of our members, Erin and Hannah, leave us as their terms came to an end. Myself, Beth and all the new members with them all the best for the future.

Over the next month or two we have a lot to be getting on with: on the 27th of February, we, along with local campaign group The Fixers, are having a further a meeting with Stagecoach to discuss the need for the bus operator to reduce ticket costs for young people in the Bay. We are also aiming to wrap up and successfully complete our campaign to introduce a new discount/ID card for young people in Torbay in order to move on to setting up new campaigns to address the new members' manifesto points. Furthermore, some of us are also going to be coming along to the residential on the 27th of March with the rest of the South West. So all in all, a busy time for us all down here in Torbay!

Wiltshire Charles McGrath, 17, Member of Youth Parliament This month, my last as Member of the Youth Parliament for East Wiltshire, I have performed a variety of duties which nicely round off my year in the role. I have continued my work with the Salisbury Student Union, which was established last September and continues to go from strength to strength. At present, we are currently organizing a campaign on the issue of public transport with the slogan 'Change in Our Hands'.

Petitions are being distributed at present and we hope to be hosting a number of assemblies in local schools after the half term break. We are also working on planning an Arts Festival for young

Youth Voice: Positive Stories people in Salisbury, displaying the wide range of talent that can be seen in the area from local bands to artistic works. We hope to be holding this Arts Festival in the summer.

I have also been working closely with the local Youth Advisory Group. Proposed cuts to youth services by Wiltshire Council have been a primary concern for the YAG, and I and other members of the group have attended a consultation on the issue in order to discuss ways in which these can be dealt with whilst also putting young people's interests first. Although the situation doesn't look promising for youth services in the area, I hope that - alongside the new Member and Deputy Members of the Youth Parliament for East Wiltshire - we can work together in order to prevent significant damage to services that many young people rely on.

I hope to support the new Members of the Youth Parliament in working on the national campaigns in the forthcoming year, Votes at 16 and a Curriculum for Life. I am looking forward to seeing more local schools signing up to the latter, and look forward to seeing local political figures supporting the campaign to lower the voting age. I am sure that this year will be a very productive one for the UK Youth Parliament and all youth political bodies in East Wiltshire.

Kieran Mulvaney, 16, Member of Youth Parliament Although I have only been in the MYP role for a week I have already started many campaigns and planned several things. I will be working with local decision makes and my MP to achieve many more of my pledges that I had in my manifesto from when I was elected a year ago.

Unfortunately the first UKYP meeting on the calendar I was unable to attend due to health and safety and no way of getting there and back. But I am looking forward to the South west residential where the UKYP Wiltshire team can finally bond and get some hard work done.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

West Midlands Dudley Kyle Simms, Member of Youth Parliament After organizing a visit to Parliament for my Youth Council and surrounding Youth Forums with my MP, 27 young people from Dudley were invited to travel to London for a free tour of Parliament and then a question and answer session with the MP. We asked a lot of questions about how he was working with young people in Dudley and what he thought of the UKYP campaigns (he agrees with both Votes at 16 and A Curriculum For Life) as well as other recent issues such as the proposition of elongating school days. Overall it was a fun day for us all filled with numerous selfie opportunities as well as representing our young people's views to one of Dudley's local MPs/

Staffordshire Joe Porter, Youth Councillor Make them take us seriously OUR public finances are limited; our priorities are changing and our definition of public services is different to what it once was.

To put it simply, the state is inevitably shrinking.

Local authorities are cutting their youth services to reduce their own deficits and to fund council tax freezes. Staffordshire County Council need to ask itself: Could these proposed ÂŁ4.5 million of savings be made in other areas? Could these services be commissioned to the private sector? And is it moral to cut youth services?

The county council claims that only one in five young people use the youth services. But this doesn't take into consideration the 20,257 politicised Staffordshire young people who voted in last

Youth Voice: Positive Stories year's UKYP 'Make Your Mark' survey – the highest in the country. Investing money in the future generation will always be value for money, if done properly. It will, after all, be us who will make up the workforce of tomorrow. On a budget of less than a single Staffordshire high school, the youth service works with 16,000 young people – 10 times the student population of an average high school – and has less than 1/34th of the mainstream budget of Staffordshire secondary schools. So logically, engaging with 20 per cent of the county's young people is much more value for every public pound spent.

If the proposals go ahead, 400 jobs will be lost. Youth workers are fully trained in health and safety and are more knowledgeable than anyone, other than parents, about the needs of young people. While volunteers should be highly valued, they do not have the same level of training and experience. Surely, they shouldn't be expected to always take on the responsibility of young people's safety without even being paid? Also, volunteers don't have a contractual obligation to turn up and run every youth club session. The Staffordshire Youth Action Kouncil, the eight district youth forums, and the UK Youth Parliament reps all form 'Speakout'. This ensures that every young person who lives, works or learns in Staffordshire has a local, regional and national voice. If youth workers lose their jobs and the youth centres close, this essential aspect of the youth service will cease to exist. I urge the council to listen to the results of the public consultation. This is not just a matter of politics – it is a matter of morality and creating a more prosperous and aspirational future. Therefore, I ask every local councillor and Staffordshire MP to please reconsider the proposed cuts to the youth service. Otherwise, the 'Achieving Excellence for Young People' proposals won't achieve "excellence" for young people. Instead it's young people and hardworking youth workers who will pay the cost. And politically, it would disconnect young people from politics and create an even larger gap between you and your younger constituents. Please sign the petition and participate in the consultation so that this becomes Staffordshire's largest ever petition and consultation, and so they take us seriously.

Megan Collins, 15, Member of Youth Parliament Some of Staffordshire's youth councillors attended the BYC event to lobby MPs about the Votes at 16 Campaign on the 12th February. When they arrived in London, the five youth representatives attended a workshop on arguments for and against the campaign and discussed the etiquette when talking to MPs. This took place in the Mary Sumner House. Billy, an MYP for Stafford, said 'the workshop was very informative and beneficial to attend before we spoke to MPs' .

After lunch, all the young people marched through the streets of London with banners and posters. James said it was 'really great to take the campaign to the streets of London'. Even though it was pouring with rain everyone enjoyed themselves and it created a great photo opportunity!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories The march finished outside the Houses of Parliament where the young people were introduced to some political campaigners. After that, it was then time for the young people to discuss to MPs and/or to other constituencies MPs. It was the task if young people to find out their views on the campaign. From Staffordshire, MPs' Jeremy Lefroy, Michael Fabricant and Paul Farelly were spoken to and were each brilliant in listening and giving their views on campaign. Dan said this was 'very beneficial' and glad he is able to take the campaign forwards. Joe Porter, another MYP for Stafford concluded that, 'today was a day about democracy and young people engaging in politics' MPS and peers have heard our arguments and now it is time for them to take action by lowering the voting age to 16'

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Yorkshire and Humber Barnsley Thomas Yems, Youth Councillor NHS Youth Forum The NHS England Youth Forum met in its inaugural meeting at the start of February and decided that its main priorities for this year would be: mental health, sexual health, and communication between medical professionals and young people. We represent the views of young people across the country and aim to project the voice and views of young people into the heart of the NHS. We met with a variety of senior figures in NHS England to express our views about the health system and how the NHS England can improve its accountability to young people.

At the Barnsley Youth Council this month we discussed progress being made by our Youth Councillors who have been reviewing the PSHE provision in their schools as part of the UKYP Curriculum for Life campaign.

The Youth Council also voted to support the principle behind improving the road safety of Racecommon Road, a road where lots of pupils are required to cross to go to schools. Finally, we discussed and suggested improvements to a provisional Anti-Bullying Charter to be a voluntary scheme for all the schools across Barnsley.

On 12th February I attended a Votes at 16 lobby at Parliament. We demonstrated in front of Parliament, followed by discussion with a variety of MPs and Lords. I met with Angela Smith MP and Nic Dakin MP and had a thrilling discussion with about Votes at 16 which they both support.

To round of this month, I attended a National Scrutiny Group meeting where we discussed: Transforming Youth Custody; Child Poverty Strategy; Local Authority young services; and Cocreating youth participation practices.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories We scrutinised the government’s approach to how they plan to transform youth custody, and were pleased to note the consultation with young people in custody for the formation of this plan. The plan entails the construction of Secure Colleges where education is placed at the heart of the College.

We also commented on the lack of consultation with young people in the production of Child Poverty Strategies and the lack of progress made towards improving Child Poverty in the last 3 years.

We also looked at how Local Authorities consult with young people with the services they provide as well as how government can better consult with young people in innovative and informal ways as well as more written formal consultation responses.

Votes @ 16 lobby Over a hundred young people gathered in London, to lobby and demonstrate our view that young people aged 16 and 17 should have the right to vote in the UK. We, three Barnsley Youth Councillors joined the throng of representation, to share and express the views of young people from Barnsley.

Although Votes at 16 is a contentious issue even amongst young people, it is primarily for the reason that young people aged 16 and 17 claim not to know enough about politics and the political system, however, I put it to you, that the fact that we recognise that we are ignorant is more than some of the current electorate can say.

We spent the first part of the day demonstrating in front of Parliament, broadcasting our views loud and clear, and during the second part of the day had numerous conversations with different MPs and Lords debating and discussing the merits and disadvantages in allowing young people to vote.

We all found the day really enjoyable and felt that we and the campaign gained a lot from the experience. “On the day I did not have a clear impression towards the vote at 16 yet I tried to have a collective responsibility towards the issue and represent my constituency. I am

Youth Voice: Positive Stories thankful to both British youth council for the opportunity given and also our Local MP. We managed to have a chat with Dan Jarvis and know his opinions and we are thankful to him!”

Pegah Moulana, 17, Barnsley Youth Councillor “I strongly agreed with votes @ 16 and I really enjoyed getting involved and meeting new people and we all got the chance to speak to different MP’s and put our own views and opinions across, we also got some responses back to the questions we asked, we all got to meet up with our local MP and ask about their views on votes at 16, me and Pegah got to meet with Dan Jarvis, he strongly agrees with votes at 16. I also got to sort out my work experience with Dan too. I loved every minute of it, especially the lobbying DEMO outside of the Houses of Parliament. It was an outstanding experience, and I am so lucky to have been a part of it. A big thanks to the British Youth Council!” Chloe Briscoe, 15, Barnsley Youth Councillor.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Leeds Charlotte Williams, Young Mayor Last time I wrote I talked about judging the Child Friendly Leeds Awards, since then I have been lucky enough to present an award at the Ceremony on the 30th January. The Ceremony was a red carpet event with lots of posh frocks at the City Varieties Theatre in Leeds. The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress attended along with lots of others who’d helped produce it, judge it, shortlist it, and even some junior News Hounds who’d come to report on the evening’s entertainment.

There was a Magician who did the most baffling and bizarre tricks ever invented, a young teenager who wrote and sang her own songs and an amazing amount of dancing. My favourite entertainment by far though was the Rocks (The amazing inflatables) and Steven and Jamie (the comperes). I had to be part of one of Stevens’ jokes where he asked me if I was called Philomena and I had to give him a disapproving look.

I gave an award out to the ‘Children’s Champion’ winner Nathan Popple who has cerebral palsy and has created a website called Accessible Leeds. The other winners were Dance Action Zone Leeds for ‘Best Overall Contribution to Child Friendly Leeds’; First Floor at West Yorkshire Playhouse for ‘Best Place for Children and Young People’; and John Forbes for ‘Looking After Children And Young People’.

It was such such fun!

Sophie, Youth Representative On the 15th December I reported at the red carpet event of the BBC's Sports Personality of the Year. The experience was amazing and I thoroughly enjoyed myself: I will tell you a bit about it.

Before the red carpet event, I met up with another young reporter at the Premier Inn, opposite the First Direct Arena (where the event was being held). At the Premier Inn, we met all the members of the press who were reporting from the red carpet and waited for our passes that would let us past security. After a long wait we got these and headed for the arena.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories When we arrived there we waited for the sports stars to arrive. The first celebrity to enter the red carpet was former rugby player, Ben Cohen, followed by the rest of the celebrities throughout the evening. We met stars such as Tanny Grey Thomson, Louie Smith, Jonathan Edwards, Rebecca Adlington, Nicola Adams, Sir Chris Hoy, Rio Ferdinand and many more!

We interviewed many of the celebrities about their sporting achievements, about how they felt about the event being held in Leeds and who they thought might be successful in the public vote for the sports personality title. We also asked them to say good luck to the camera for all the children doing GCSEs and A levels. It was fun, but a bit nerve wracking. All of the celebs were really nice and it was amazing to talk to so many inspirational sports stars. We really enjoyed it!

This experience is something I will probably never do again. It was a once in a lifetime experience and I loved it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Child Friendly Leeds Young Advisors Workshop On Saturday 30th November Reenyroo (another young reporter) and I were asked to go to the young advisors workshop for all the young advisors in Leeds. We were there to take part and also run our own 30 minute workshop.

First of all we got to know a bit about each other and then about what a young advisor was before the workshops started.

We then did a team building exercise to test our how well we could work as a team; the aim of the task was to see which team could build the highest tower out of marshmallows, glue, straws and paper. My team won.

We then learnt about some people who helped children in Leeds have equal rights. In our teams we made peg dolls and did a puppet show with children being helped by a superhero to have equal rights.

Everyone then had a break, having a drink and a snack, then we presented them with our workshop. Reenyroo and I both meet with people every month and discuss ways to help with the 12 wishes for children in Leeds The task we set was that in their teams they had to write an article about the workshops that they took part in. All the articles were brilliant and they all enjoyed writing them.

The day seemed to be a great success and there will hopefully be more of these workshops in the future. I hope everyone who took part enjoyed the day and that they learnt something. I know I learnt a lot!!!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Dalitso Tembos, Minhaz Abedin and Katie Ward, Youth Representatives The 2012-14 (D)MYP’s have come to the end of their term in Leeds, and since January 2014 ten new potential Members of Youth Parliament have been lobbying and promoting the UKYP elections in Leeds. Thursday 27th February see’s the end of an era for Katie, Minhaz and Dalitso with them handing over the baton to the new (D)MYP’s for Leeds, an awards evening was held at Leeds Civic Hall to celebrate the success and achievement of the 2012-14 (D)MYP’s and announce the new (D)MYP’s for Leeds.

We would like to say thank you to our outgoing Members of Youth Parliament for all their hard work and commitment, and say welcome and good luck to our new Members and Deputy Members of Youth Parliament…

-

Shamim Miah, MYP Nicole Sabau, MYP Minhaz Abedin, MYP Ciaran Morrison, DMYP Prosper Adam, DMYP

Good Bye from Dalitso: Eleanor Roosevelt once said: "We gain strength, and courage, and confidence by each experience in which we really stop to look fear in the face... we must do that which we think we cannot."

Thinking back I can say that my time on Youth Parliament has been just that. I can remember a time when I couldn't stand up in front of a crowd like now and speak. Over the past two years I have been able to overcome my fear of public speaking. By pushing myself to speak up for young people like myself as their representative. I have been able to achieve so many other things such as winning the Zambian Young politician of the year award and sitting in the House of Commons.

But, my ability to speak in front of a crowd is one that really sticks out to me. I will never forget these past two year and I am very grateful that I was given this opportunity Good Bye from Minhaz: I sat down to write this article and I realised how difficult it is to say good bye with the results coming half an hour later. Then I realised that this isn’t a goodbye more a thank you to the people who made this happen. And more over, it was me imprinting my small part of a greater legacy.

UKYP is a place where success and failures is none other than common and I’ll tell you why. Two years ago I stood here wearing the same suit in fact and from there I’ve have taken a journey that defines the person I am today.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories But did I ever think I’d be standing here, today? Of course not because parts of this journey sent me to a place where everything was cloudy and I was surrounded by nothing but mist. Yet without playing with fate and working with the thought of fulfilling a promise I made to the people of Leeds, I would never have come so far because this organisation is a place where opportunities blossom and some will always become rotten but if you take the right ones... I have to say no more.

You go through misery and euphoria – tears of sadness and joy but if you didn’t get these, you aren’t trying hard enough because if you want something that bad, it will pain you to lose it.

Working with everyone means that you end up growing into a family. That makes this ever more hard because you share your worst and your best with these people because the opportunities you get are ridiculous and this is something the older generation can only envy us for because no one cares for your religion, race or age... we all get the same opportunities but it is up to you to let it pass or work for it... and trust me, you’ll have to work.

I spent a year representing young people as an MYP and that is all well and good but the next year, I represented young people as a young person because I put myself in my constituent’s seat and thought... what would make them feel like we are worthwhile in a society that we as MYP’s only see.

Pride and legacy are two things that sit side by side because if you do something worth being proud of, that is your legacy... and that is what I did. With visiting young people across Leeds, I witnessed something more than the deprived backgrounds I saw growing up... instead I saw a city thriving with opinions but struggling to get a voice. The centre of our city is young people and without it, there would be no colour to the culture we sit on.

So I did just that. I was elected Debate Lead for Yorkshire and Humber in the House of Commons, presenting my summation of Better Work Experience to an audience that went into the millions... so I ask you this question today. How’s that for a voice?

I step down with no doubts of what I could have achieved and instead look into your eyes with pride of the legacy I have helped to bring; a legacy that I only scraped the surface of. Youth Association, VIC Unit, Youth Work Unit, Leeds City Council and my fellow MYP’s and youth councillors... I hope I have done you the service you are so overly due... I hope I made a legacy worth living up to.

Good Bye Katie: “Champions aren’t made in the gym, Champions are made from something deep inside you- a dream, a desire, a vision” This was the end of my campaign speech that me and my “campaign manager” came up with to get me elected back in 2012. At the age of 15, I filled out my

Youth Voice: Positive Stories manifesto to become a MYP for Leeds and hoped to get elected. However now my 2 Year Rollercoaster has finally ended with me conquering my fears, growing in maturity and bubbling in confidence. If you ask someone what I was like 2 years ago, they wouldn’t have mentioned any of the above. Who would have thought I would have met key decision makers, been and debated in the House of Commons and along the way met someone truly awesome young people.

The first time I met the rest of the D/MYP’s we sat in a room throwing a soft ball about with questions on it to break the ice. Looking back that’s a memory that has stayed with me for my whole 2 year journey, knowing that was the start of something ace to come.

Make Your Mark was a challenge every year for D/MYP’s as our aim was to get as many young people as possible to fill out the ballot papers. We all set ourselves targets every year and our goal was to beat them! In 2011, the year before we took over, Leeds scored 512 Ballots. In our first Year with a target of 3500, we smashed that with 5408. All the MYP’s met the 1000 ballot target as well. In 2013, Minhaz and I sat in the University of Leeds, debating what our target should be, bearing in mind we had 3 less people to reach more ballots. We wanted 10,000 internally, however publicly we went for 7000 to beat. We got 11,122, which was a huge increase from 2011, which ultimately benefited the Young People of Leeds as more peoples voices were being heard.

A personal highlight for me was an event that happened at my school, which was a Question Time Q+A with me, Alec Shelbrooke MP and Councillor Mark Dobson. The aim of the day was for pupils to ask us as many questions as they wanted too and they had to vote deciding who they would want if they had to vote now. I was always behind Alec Shelbrooke, who was showering pupils with Leaflets, Pens and other goods, and every time I walked into the Classroom, I was just me with a piece of paper full of notes! All the way through I was thinking I have no chance of winning this against 2 professionals. At the end of this day, the votes were counted and I won 453-1, which was a huge honour for me knowing that I had won by just using my voice!

The October Convention is hosted by Leeds was the convention of results We have the Success of Make Your Mark and the elections for PG and Debate Lead. Minhaz was running for Debate Lead and I was standing for PG. Both of us won and were subsequently given the name Leeds Dream Team! Following the convention we had the individual results of Make Your Mark which determine who is the final speaker of the House Of Commons. I knew I wasn’t as David Mcintyre our PG had like 14,000 ballots. When the results were published It was David, A DMYP, A YC and then me. However due to some technicality meaning it’s the Highest MYP to speak, I had a phone call from David Clark telling me I was speaking at the HoC!!!

November 15th 2013, a date now engraved in your memories forever was my opening line to my HoC speech. It is certainly engraved in mine. I had been up since 6am getting ready, practicing my speech in the mirror numerous times. I remember feeling so nervous on the tube on the way to

Youth Voice: Positive Stories the HoC and I was so worried I would lose my speech. Personally what made it worse was the fact that I was last and had to watch the drama of the whole day unfold in front of me, whilst still practicing in my seat. Finally after the last speaker of the day, I was ready to go and Mr Speaker went and called Natasha Engle and Nick Hurd before me! I went back into nervous state again!

Finally when I got up a put my papers on the Dispatch Box, I thought please don’t forget it, but I went onto Autopilot and came out with the best version of my speech I had done! However I don’t think Kayleigh and Richard have forgiven me for me going to my media stuff and not returning until 30 mins after I was supposed to be done!

The Steering Group in Y&H was a new feature as of last year, and I volunteered to do it for Leeds.

I am so glad I did! I planned and delivered some of the conventions and got the opportunity to go to Brussels for 3 days. We went to the European Parliament to tell them about the work we had been doing in Y&H. We were invited by Rebecca Taylor to go and give her a presentation, so on behalf of Leeds, I packed my suitcase and went to tell them about our Careers Advice leaflet we had been working on with the Leeds Youth Council. My personal memories of this occasion was eating waffles at 1am, and the fact that myself and David went to the European Parliament with no voices! As we croaked through our parts, I was praying Rebecca wouldn’t ask me a question because I didn’t have the voice to talk. The first person she asked was me! Fortunately It went really well!

Doncaster Aysha Ahmed, Georgia Wren and Jasmine Womack, Youth Representatives Doncaster Youth Council Election Young people have been very busy planning and preparing for the Doncaster Youth Council Elections. The event was held at the Mansion House Monday 24 February, it was completely young person-led and organised by the two elected representatives of Youth Parliament for Doncaster (Aysha Ahmed & Georgia Wren and an ex-member of the Youth Council (Jasmine Womack). All Schools were asked to promote the Election Process and encourage young people to participate, a DVD made by Youth Councillors was shown in School assemblies and all year groups were entitled to vote. Each candidates manifesto was displayed in Schools and Youth Centres in preparation for the vote. The Election saw a terrific turn out, 11 Schools were involved and each supported students to choose their candidate. A number of candidates read out their manifestos at the event and shared personal information about why they wanted to be elected and how they wanted to make a difference for other young people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Parents, grandparents and teachers all came out to support at the event, the Director of Children’s Services and the Elected Cabinet Member for Children & Young People both attended and delivered speeches.

In total over 5000 students took part and 30 young people were successfully elected to represent across the borough of Doncaster.

The purpose of Doncaster Youth Council and the work they do is to ensure that young people’s voices in Doncaster are heard at every level and that positive images of young people are promoted across the borough, diverse young people are elected as Youth Councillors and together they form a very effective Doncaster Youth Voice…

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Rotherham Oliver Blake, 16, Youth Councillor February for me in the wild world of Rotherham has been a rollercoaster – it has had its fair share of ups and downs.

The main event that was to look forward to this month was the UK Youth Parliament election results – I was running for my third term. I’m not sure if this would be classed as a “positive story” as the name suggests but I unfortunately was not successful, I did not get a position as MYP or DMYP after having 3 years in office. It was a setback but I’m not one to go dwelling on the past and want to look ahead to the future.

Now as just a member of Rotherham Youth Cabinet, February has been very good to me. The main event that we have being building up to is the 2014 Children’s Commissioners Takeover Day (formerly the 11 Million Takeover Day) where Rotherham Youth Cabinet members would feedback the work that we have been doing on the projects of Transport and the issues surrounding self-harm to a group of councillors, figures from bus companies such as Stagecoach and First along with figures from South Yorkshire Police and Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council.

I was in the privileged position of being able to chair the meeting, a great opportunity to say the least! Afterwards I had the honour of being interviewed by local radio station, Hallam FM regarding the work Rotherham Youth Cabinet is doing on Public Transport Safety and Safety in the town centre, something that I am very humbled to be able to do! We also went on a visit to London for a tour of Parliament (specifically the House of Lords), it was a great day that was very interesting and informative but also fun! Overall, this month has been a rollercoaster ride; I guess I can only hope for a smoother ride in March!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wakefield Simran Jandu, 16, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament I have recently been newly elected early this February, so the end of January and beginning of February I had been campaigning in schools and I'm again the DMYP for Wakefield. Since my last 2 years I have been involved in applying for funding and creating my own youth club for the younger children in my area and it's now running successfully. I also attended the votes at 16 lobby in parliament and this was to gain support from our MPs to supports votes at 16. I have also been involved in the young health watch project which contains enter and view visits to the NHS services, we plan to make our first inspection in March. I have been attending my board meetings such as NCS and the youth crime and commissioner.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Scotland Edinburgh Terri Smith, 19, Member of Scottish Youth Parliament

As a MSYP for Edinburgh and Northern Leith, I am once again incredibly proud to be supporting and promoting another fantastic Scottish Youth Parliament campaign. There are an estimated 100,000 young carers in Scotland who all do a remarkable job caring for the needs of their loved ones. Many of these young people are selflessly helping others without a thought for themselves.

I personally did not know much about young carers, or the significant number of young people in Scotland who have caring responsibilities, until Lauren King MSYP presented the young carers motion to the Scottish Youth Parliament in 2011/12. I now feel a real sense of pride that, as a youth-led organisation, the SYP have chosen Care.Fair.Share. as their national campaign for 2014.

This campaign champions these young people and awareness of the need for more help for many

Youth Voice: Positive Stories of Scotland unsung heroes. Since the launch of the campaign in January, my main focus has been to secure the support of my local councillors and MSPs. I have written to every Councillor from The City of Edinburgh Council, urging them to support fairer financial policies and practices for young carers. The response I have received so far has been unanimous in support of the campaign. I have been invited to present the main objectives of Care.Fair.Share. to both the Labour and the SNP members of the council. I have also been given the opportunity to meet with Edinburgh’s carers champion and Vice Convenor of Education, Children and Families. This is a great opportunity for me to try and directly influence the decision makers on a local level. Given the written correspondence I have received, I firmly believe that locally I can work with the Council, encouraging and supporting them to deliver the main priorities of the campaign.

On a national level I have written to my local MSP Malcolm Chisholm, as well all the Lothian regional MSPs who have also responded with very positive messages of support for the campaign. I had a meeting with Mr Chisholm on Thursday 20th February 2014, where he added his signature to the Care.Fair.Share. pledge board. I believe it is important to gain the support of all the decision makers in Scotland and raise as much awareness of the campaign as possible. I would urge all my fellow MSYPs to make contact with their local politicians and share the stories of young carers, making it clear that these young people need their support. I would also like to encourage everyone to go out and speak to groups of young carers as their stories are incredibly inspiring. Hearing first-hand the difficulties and hardship many of them face really highlights how important this campaign is and it has made me incredibly passionate to gather as much support as possible and make a real difference for young carers in Scotland.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wales Caerphilly Sophie Jones, 16, Youth Representative From the 27th to the 29th of January six young people attended the 'It's Ours Europe' conference in Ludwigsburg in Germany where they had the chance to get involved in different workshops and give their views. The workshops were; mobility, participation and environment with at least one young person in each. The workshops were very interesting and all young people who attended were ready to get involved and give their views. The participants were from all around Europe and spoke lots of different languages. The main languages were English, German and French. Tuesday we started with the workshops. We started the day with a few ice breakers to mix with the other young people as there was over 90 of us! We heard about the 2012 conference and heard a speech from the mayor of Ludwigsburg. In the evening we went into town and enjoyed a meal with everyone.

We also got to meet the mayor of Ludwigsburg which was great! We’ve also been working as a project group to tackle our priority issue for this year, which is ‘Drugs and alcohol including legal highs are easy for young people to get; they need to understand the dangers.’ We decided as a group to make 3 short films focusing on drugs, alcohol and legal highs. As we thought this was a good way to get young people aware of the dangers. We’ve been meeting every week with a film company who will be helping us produce these films, ready for our launch night in March.

Our Junior forum meeting was held on Wednesday the 12th February, where 103 young people attended. They worked in workshops to come up with questions around their priority issue to put forward to the panel made up of the police commissioner, Keith Towler the children’s commissioner for Wales, DAYS project, representatives from the police and community safety officers that are attending the next meeting in June.

Our borough wide meeting was held on the 23rd of January where young people came to represent their areas and raise their issues. We worked in workshops on consultations with Funky Dragon and a workshop about our youth service. We also had feedback about issues raised at the last meeting and heard new issues raised by more young people. We ended the night with a fun Valentine’s Day craft making workshop. We have also been working with young people on a 21st century school project. The project is about building a super school in the borough, combining

Youth Voice: Positive Stories two local schools together. Young people gave feedback of what they thought of the project and what they would like to see in the new school.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Rhondda Cynon Taf Lauren Crawford, 18, Youth representative Since the first of this month I have had the privilege of attending the Votes at 16 lobby which was held on the 12th February in London, despite getting stuck in London overnight due to the horrendous weather across the country and the fact that First Great Western just didn't want us to get back to Wales, it was an enjoyable campaign.

It was amazing to see how many young people showed up to campaign for votes at 16, I was so glad to play a part in representing Wales during this experience; especially when we had the chance to question some of the Lords and MPs on what they thought of votes at 16.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Support Worker’s Stories

East Midlands Leicestershire Nicola O'neill, Support Worker During the week of 3rd Feb 2014 young people across the County were involved in voting in the UK Youth Parliament elections. 10 candidates from across all the Districts and Boroughs stood as candidates, wrote manifestos and canvassed for votes in their schools and youth groups.

Supported by Youth Workers in Leicestershire County Council’s Early Help 11 – 19 service, 5,833 votes were cast and the top 3 young people have been elected as Members of UK Youth Parliament for the next 2 years. Portia Berry-Kilby (15) from North West Leicestershire, Rina Roy (17) from Charnwood and Daria Eckert (13) from Oadby & Wigston will now represent Leicestershire’s young people at local, regional and national level. They will attend annual sittings, UKYP conventions and debate in the House of Commons, campaigning on issues that young people identify as being important to them.

Well done to all who stood. It was a closely fought election and the other candidates will all be involved in the County Youth Council for Leicestershire (CYCLe) or as Deputy Members of UKYP. One of the first activities for the group is to attend the British Youth Council leadership development programme at a residential in Kent in April 2014.

Rutland Karen Hadden, Support Worker Fair And Safer Transport Last November we carried out a survey identifying young people’s top issues which they felt affected them the most. The top issue highlighted was transport and so we carried a number of questionnaires across the county to find out views and opinions on different bus services they used for both school and leisure.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Our total number of participants was 304 service users between 11-18 year olds. These were 74 Casterton Business and Enterprise Academy bus service users. 151 school bus service users from Uppingham Community college and 21 from The Kings College. 15 school bus service users from Catmose college and 43 public service.

1. Standardize age related pricing across Rutland for Young people & Adults Depending on the bus company young people use, you may get charged an adult rate from the age of 13.

Adults are classed as 18 year olds but on buses 13 year olds need to buy an adult ticket.

Is it right that young people are targeted top pay adult fairs at this age?

We would like to see a fairer affordable system in place for all young people that are in full time education.

Findings and recommendations from the Questionnaires: The majority of questionnaires suggested that an adult price should be in the region of age 16 – 18 as these are the ages when a person is legally able to have adult responsibilities, such as voting, marriage and paying tax. One quote from a UCC student stated that, “I find it absolutely ridiculous. A 14 year old is to be classed as an adult, when legally it is 18. Many people our age (teenagers) must pay extortionate prices e.g. £6 to Leicester.” This is limiting young people’s live as many people living in rural areas do not have jobs like adults but are expected to pay like adults.

2.

Fairer systems on charging young people to travel

Some buses will charge year 11 students adult fares and all other school years child fares.

Young people have reported that despite being in school uniforms bus drivers will charge them adult fairs regardless and will not accept that the young person is under the age of 15 Some routes of travel have had 100% increases making it an extra £247 more a term to use school buses.

RYC would like to be able to feedback to their peers why this has happened and what improvements it has meant to the service.

Look at a yearly fee card that is the same across Rutland and charges the same for all young people with regard to age.

Findings and recommendations from the Questionnaires:

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Our findings suggest that people are charged adult prices by their appearance and not their actual age, this is classed as age discrimination, as many young people these days do look older than perhaps they actually are and this should be checked by drivers and not assumed that they are of adult prices. We would suggest that an ID card is issued or can be brought across companies for proof of students being under the age of an adult fare.

Westend Travel & Centre Bus: the majority of students have reported that adult age should be between sixteen and eighteen but people under this age are being charged as adults by your companies.

3.

Ensure the Safety of Young people that use Public/school transport and offer a quality service for all.

It is reported that there are buses that operate within Rutland are not conforming to safety standards. They are operating with more than the recommended quota of people standing up, as all the seats are full.

RYC want to look at talking with transport providers to look at bigger buses or more buses as the need is there.

On an overcrowded bus one driver told a member of the RYC to sit on the bag rack. Lots of buses still operate with no seat belts. Buses are often dirty and seem to be not looked after – can rubbish bags be supplied?

Findings and recommendations from the Questionnaires: Centre Bus: The views on Centre bus are mainly focused on the 19 public service bus however many young people in the area use this bus for travelling to school and back, eight people have said that the companies keep the buses excellently clean, thirty-one said that the cleanliness was okay, twenty said poor and three said that the buses were particularly unclean. To add to this it has been noted that, especially on the 19 service bus, there has been a problem with overcrowding, that in some cases has led to over the legal amount of people that may stand on a bus, this is not necessarily the fault of the bus company but at times when, as I’m sure the companies are aware of, overcrowding a bigger bus should be sent, for example, possibly a double decked bus or multiple buses, maybe a repetition of the 19a bus to go from Melton to Oakham at the 3.30pm bus or four times as this is felt the busiest time.

There were also reports of young people feeling in danger on public buses and reports of being in bus crashes. On one occasion, on the 19 bus a driver drove into a bus stop at Whissendine, causing damage to the bus and the bus stop. It is felt amongst young people in the county that due to bus drivers rushing it causes some drivers to be less cautious when driving putting people’s lives at risk and not very good for bus drivers health. Some drivers are reported to be impatient and unfriendly.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories There is an opportunity here for another bus service running to lighten the load on the public bus and serve a specific same route bus journey from Oakham to Melton Mowbray picking up Rutland college students and Melton Vale students around school times who all cram on to the public service bus number 19.

Austin Clarke: many students from UCC said that buses are unclean and that maybe the attitude of the drivers is unfriendly. The job of being a bus driver includes rappor with customers (the public); it would be helpful if they had an approachable and friendly manner instead of intimidating as commented by eight service users.

Starline: Young people from UCC have said that the bus is often late and that the drivers have also adopted a negative attitude towards young people.

Mark Bland: students at UCC state that there are often not enough seats, one young person said that, “I feel unsafe, the bus driver seems like he speeds and keeps nearly hitting cars.” Again it is felt amongst young people in the county that due to bus drivers rushing it causes some drivers to be less cautious when driving putting people’s lives at risk and not very good for bus drivers health.

Bizzy Bees: students from UCC have stated that the bus is poor, there are sat least one to five people standing and the bus is often late, there is also an issue with quality as some buses have been said to have broken seats putting young people’s lives at risk.

Kimes: from Catmose college, half people have said that the buses are unclean and half feel have said that the buses are relatively clean. On the whole a good school bus service Abbey Travel: many users from this came from Catmose College, three of these said of them said that the buses were relatively clean and two have said that the buses are poor or unclean. A positive is that people who have used this bus say that it always has seat belts.

Lawson’s: This company was seen as generally good school bus all-rounder with the exception of litter sometimes on routes.

Travel line: Students from UCC have said that the buses are often unclean and there are often one to ten people standing at any given time. It has also been said that bus drivers also appear to not be in a good mood and are not customer friendly. In Catmose College two people have said that cleanliness is good, half have said that the school buses have seatbelts and one has said that they do not, this would suggest that the buses are not consistent in safety standards which as a school bus service seatbelts should be compulsory. There have also been reports that there are often people standing.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Young People’s Awards What are the Young People’s Awards?

Rutland County Council stronger community team are recognising achievements by young people in Rutland.

Through this award and in partnership with schools, youth agencies and others working with young people, we aim to identify and acknowledge the achievements of young people in Rutland.

The award recognises and rewards young people who have demonstrated exceptional volunteering and/or leadership commitment and determination in three specific categories: Benefiting the Community For a young person that has worked to make a difference to their local community and raise awareness of the positive contribution a young person can make to society. This may be through volunteering, fundraising, setting up a much needed project, breaking down barriers and bringing diverse groups of people together.

Overcoming Adversity We want to recognize the young people that have challenges to work through which could be from overcoming personal barriers to achieve success to making a stand against bullying, discrimination etc and work towards supporting or educating other young people too.

Participation A young person that has involved themselves in consultation activities and worked together to develop a positive image of young people and encouraged others to do the same and contributed to promoting the views of young people There will be a separate award for each category.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East of England Bedfordshire Lisa Wright, Support Worker Youth Parliament Elections Elections for Central Bedfordshire Youth Parliament are now complete and we welcome 25 new members. Next on the agenda is elections for our representatives for UKYP and these will take place on the 15th March.

Healthwatch Partnership working with Healthwatch Central Bedfordshire is progressing and two young people will be attending future board meetings and working alongside Healthwatch to make sure the voice of young people is heard Young Inspectors Recruitment is under way for Young Inspectors and the next training programme will run in May. Get Checked Out! Young people have been working alongside Public Health to produce a film highlighting the ease of getting yourself checked out for sexually transmitted diseases and dispelling some of the myths associated with these tests. This film will be used on the website which is also currently being updated and redesigned by young people and copies of the film will go into all schools.

Youth Audit - Some of the commissioned providers who took part in the Youth Audit have contacted the Youth Audit Team and asked to meet to discuss the recommendations made by the team and look at how these can be implemented and the service improved. This has been a positive step for this team of young people as they genuinely feel that their voice has been heard and respected with this piece of work. The team will revisit the audit in April to conduct a midyear review and look at actions that have been put in place following their recommendations.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Hertfordshire Alexandra Ferguson, Support Worker Young people have their say on what’s important to them Over the past three weeks, Youth Connexions Hertfordshire has supported young people across the county in the elections for District Members of Hertfordshire UK Youth Parliament (HertsUKYP). Young people have also voted on what issues they consider, from a list of ten, to be their priorities in the county.

Voting closed at midday on Friday 14th February and whilst the District Members of HertsUKYP (MYPs) will not be declared until Saturday 1st March, the top five priority issues voted for by young adults have been announced: 1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Preparing young people for work Cheaper bus fares for young people during the school holidays Improving mental health services and education for young people Engaging young people to get their voices heard Tackling youth unemployment

These priority issues will form the mandate for the newly elected MYPs who will consult with young people across county to find out what young people think of services already offered and what improvements they would like to see. The results will then be collated, evaluated and published in the Herts1125 Hertfordshire Young People’s Manifesto 2014/15, which will be presented to senior officers in Hertfordshire County Council in October 2014.

Richard Roberts, Executive Member for Children’s Services commented: “It is very telling that this year’s priorities have a greater emphasis than ever on the importance to young people of being supported to progress into employment. I look forward to hearing the 1125 group’s ideas about how we can improve the situation in Hertfordshire.”

The 2012 and 2013 Herts1125 Manifestos, which work to effect change for all young people in the county, can be viewed here.

Debi Roberts, Support Worker Stress and Goal Setting Workshop On Thursday 27th Feb, Harpenden Town Youth Council hosted a stress and goal setting workshop, run by Youth Connexions, for 35 teens who were feeling stressed out.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories The workshop was sold out within a couple of days of advertising - as we suspected the need always outstrips the provision so HYTC are working with Youth Connexions to provide alternative dates and venues to accommodate all the people on the waiting list.

"To start with we looked at what physically happens when we feel stressed and how stressful situations get interpreted in our body and end up with us feeling so awful. We looked at how some really easy solutions can help. Then we learnt how to take the thing that stresses us the most and turn it into a goal. We the learnt how to plan so we can reach that goal...... ...I was so pleased with the workshop. I met some really nice people and it helped me to the greener grass with my stress" ...I now understand things from my mum's perspective too" ...Really helpful" ...helped put things into perspective" ...I really enjoyed today's workshop, the youth workers enthusiasm and the activities. This was a really useful two hours and now feel confident in how to achieve my goals" ...Really helpful now I know how to put everything clearly down so I can carry out the things I need to do in a structured order - best youth-worker ever" ...so useful to now know what part of my revision routine is wrong and how to change it" ...GREAT JOB - This really helps!" ...really good workshop" ...made me realise the obstacles that were in front of my goal for overcoming stress" ...Really good to know I am not the only one who is suffering anxiety" ...would like this as a one to one session" ...I enjoyed the activities and I learnt new ways to manage stress and will work on overcoming my obstacles" On the 10th Feb, two representatives from St Albans Youth Council, Ellie Webb and Cerys Falvey, gave a talk to a packed CAMHS Conference at the Fielder Centre in Hatfield.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Delegates attending came from a range of professional backgrounds including; counsellors, pastoral leads, teachers and nurses.

Cerys and Ellie gave an overview of the work of St Albans Youth Councillors (SAYC). SAYC have spent over three years investigating the need and use of counselling services by main stream students.

In that time (with the help of Herts UKYP) they have surveyed nearly 2000 young people and over 100 teachers. The data is compelling and makes clear that teachers are the first professional most young people would go to for signposting to support agencies.

The research also highlights that teachers want more training, in particular to cover adolescent depression, self harm and eating disorders and have seen a significant rise in students asking for help in these matters.

The girls threw down the gauntlet and challenged the audience to raise their game and find better ways to work in what everyone recognises is a challenging economy, to meet the needs of their peers and ensure Hertfordshire's young people are emotionally AND physically fit and resilient.

The girl's presentation stole the show with delegates forming an orderly queue to speak with them afterwards to congratulate them on their exceptional talk as well as taking the opportunity to ask for copies of their presentation and to volunteer their schools as places where more surveys could be carried out.

Interestingly, on the same day as the conference, the priorities for HERTS1125 and Herts UKYP were announced, after votes came in from schools and youth projects across the County. Exam stress and mental health was overwhelmingly voted for as an issue young people across the County expressed concern for and wanted improved.

St Albans Youth Council On the 10th Feb, two representatives from St Albans Youth Council, Ellie Webb and Cerys Falvey, gave a talk to a packed CAMHS Conference at the Fielder Centre in Hatfield.

Delegates attending came from a range of professional backgrounds including; counsellors, pastoral leads, teachers and nurses.

Cerys and Ellie gave an overview of the work of St Albans Youth Councillors (SAYC). SAYC have spent over three years investigating the need and use of counselling services by main stream students.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

In that time (with the help of Herts UKYP) they have surveyed nearly 2000 young people and over 100 teachers. The data is compelling and makes clear that teachers are the first professional most young people would go to for signposting to support agencies.

The research also highlights that teachers want more training, in particular to cover adolescent depression, self harm and eating disorders and have seen a significant rise in students asking for help in these matters.

The girls threw down the gauntlet and challenged the audience to raise their game and find better ways to work in what everyone recognises is a challenging economy, to meet the needs of their peers and ensure Hertfordshire's young people are emotionally AND physically fit and resilient.

The girl's presentation stole the show with delegates forming an orderly queue to speak with them afterwards to congratulate them on their exceptional talk as well as taking the opportunity to ask for copies of their presentation and to volunteer their schools as places where more surveys could be carried out.

Interestingly, on the same day as the conference, the priorities for HERTS1125 and Herts UKYP were announced, after votes came in from schools and youth projects across the County. Exam stress and mental health was overwhelmingly voted for as an issue young people across the County expressed concern for and wanted improved.

SAYC one step closer to making a huge difference in St Albans District with ramifications for the Democratic Republic of Congo Last summer (2013) St Albans Youth Council became aware of a campaign aimed at Nintendo who seemed to be doing something that lots of people were cross about. When they investigated further, they discovered a huge problem that probably impacts most of us though bizarrely, almost nobody knows about it.

Having considered this issue for some time the Youth Council were clear they wanted to try and make a difference and on Feb 26th representatives from St Albans Youth Council submitted a formal question to the District Council ( link to the Agenda for the meeting. Question from St Albans Youth Council and the background information on conflict minerals have been included (pages 2, 10 and 11 refer): http://stalbans.moderngov.co.uk/documents/g7149/Public%20reports%20pack%2026th-Feb2014%2019.00%20Council.pdf?T=10 District Council meetings are very formal and perhaps a little intimidating not least because they are streamed live! When called upon, Ellie Appleyard and Georgia Cashman approached the

Youth Voice: Positive Stories lectern and microphones to publicly read out the Youth Council's Question to the District Council‌.

Dear Councillors, The issue of conflict minerals is something SAYC feels strongly about and we hope once you become acquainted with the issue you will also want to do what you can to educate your peers and take what steps you can to ensure future purchases of phones and electrical equipment are through companies committed at the highest level to sourcing minerals responsibly.

Let us explain why. The term 'conflict minerals' applies to minerals that are mined in conditions where human rights abuses and armed conflict is taking place; the concept is similar to that of the 'blood diamond'. This practice in particularly common in the DRC, which has had its natural resources illegally and brutally sacked by various rebel groups and even the governments of neighbouring states, who continue to smuggle minerals out of the Congo to sell them on. The proceeds from the mining of these minerals are most commonly used to fund wars and buy arms.

35% of all mining profits within the DRC go to armed groups, which rely on the sale of conflict minerals to generate over 75% of the revenues which fund other violent and criminal activities.

This may all seem very distant to us in St Albans but it doesn’t take long for us to get involved.

The next stage takes these minerals through a number of intermediaries before being bought by large multinational electronics companies where they are then used to make your laptops, mobile phones and other electrical appliances. Cassiterite, wolframite, gold and coltan are the most common conflict minerals and are vital parts of the appliances that we all use every day and take for granted.

The bottom line is the final destination of these minerals is in our consumer goods.

0ver 5.5 million people have died in a civil war that is funded by the minerals that we buy indirectly via our phone and IT equipment. When looking into the supply chain it soon becomes clear that many international firms do not know or possibly do not take seriously the issue of where their minerals come from. However, as a consumer we have some power to impact this situation as it is possible to choose ethical firms who stringently check their supply chain.

Since we first brought this issue to your attention there have been some developments - Intel recently committed to making all of its new microprocessors conflict-free. This is a huge step forward and can be used to inspire wider action in the electronics industry. Companies like Intel are doing the hard work of securing conflict-free suppliers, so it's now even easier for other companies to follow suit and for us as consumers to demand our products are conflict free.

Here is a BBC news piece covering the announcement: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology25636001

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Here is some more detail from Intel on how and why they made this decision, which also makes for interesting background reading (there is also a link to an panel discussion with the Intel CEO and our campaign partner the Enough Project discussing these issues which you may find of interest): http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/corporate-responsibility/conflict-freeminerals.html In the last few weeks another huge electronics company has announced dramatic changes to its operations with a view to ending conflict minerals once and for all: Apple has announced it intends to be conflict mineral free by the end of this year.1 This is fantastic news and shows that international pressure is achieving huge changes in this industry. We will need to reference this at the council meeting on Wed and use it as a positive example highlighting that people want change.

Our question to the council is this: Having read our very brief overview of the issues with conflict mineral we hope you feel just a little more knowledgeable as a consumer. As a better informed consumer, with responsibility for public money and public services, we would like to ask the council to investigate the mineral status of their current equipment and commit to introducing an additional criteria, 'responsibility sourced minerals', when purchasing electronic or mobile devices or renewing contracts with companies that supply such items. *you can see the girls and the whole meeting at http://www.stalbans.public-i.tv/core/ Under the Council Procedure Rules, a questioner who has put a question in person may also put one supplementary question, without prior notice, to the Councillor who has replied to the original question. A supplementary question must arise directly out of the original question or the reply. The Mayor, who will chair the Council meeting, may reject a supplementary question if she considers that it is not a matter for which the Council has a responsibility or for another specified reason.

Unbeknown to SAYC one of the District Councillors, Cllr Campbell (who had declared an interest at the beginning of the proceedings - councillors must do this if they are in any way connected to the subject that is being discussed) explained he works for a large electronics company and has for some time been involved in this very discussion at his place of work and is helping to ensure his company are practising good ethics in relation to responsibly resourced minerals.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Cllr. Alex Campbell has therefore volunteered to meet with the Youth Council and work with them to explore if they can develop a similar protocol for the District's public buildings, workers and schools.

SAYC did not feel it necessary to ask an additional question but to confirm that they are delighted with this outcome and look forward to meeting with Cllr. Campbell and working with him to make a difference across the District.

Peterborough Jenny Humphreys, Support Worker February has been super busy for youth engagement in the City! Polling stations opened at schools across the city this month for young people to elect their new Youth MP and deputies for the coming year and students voted in their droves!

On the 13th February we had a very busy day helped by lots of lovely volunteers we created grass skirts to count all the votes and got on with the huge task of counting all the ballots! 5086 young people had cast their ballot this year more than doubling last years figure of 2200 votes and giving us a turnout of approx 30%, more importantly showing the city that young people really do want to use their voice!

I am very pleased to announce that our new Youth MP is Emily Fisher (17) and her deputies are Chirag Savania (17) and Michelle Nyoni (15). Whilst all this was happening out and about in the city our Youth Councillors were busy looking over the City Council's budget proposals for 2014/15. They impressed everyone with their thoroughness and held a very successful scrutiny with lead councillors put through their paces to justify their budget decisions.

All in all February has been a very busy, yet very rewarding month for all involved and now I am really looking forward to starting my work with our new youth MP and deputies. As well as organising our Youth Council annual meeting that is coming up in March where we will elect our new management team for the year!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North East Northumberland John-Paul Dickie, Support Worker New and current members of the Northumberland Youth Cabinet and Northumberland Youth Parliament spent time away on a residential this month to work on action plans for the next year.

Members used their election manifestos to create points which could then be used to create project action plans which will be used over the next year as part of Youth Cabinet and Youth Parliament work areas.

This year’s Youth Cabinet projects include topics such as transport, anti-bullying, young people's awards, more say for young people and cleaning up environment. Members will now work in their groups over the next few weeks to build up the projects and start working on them.

The residential also included team bonding and building activities so new and current members could get to know each other better and build up communication skills.

The residential each year provides an excellent opportunity for members to work in a structured way to build their projects but also to get to know the people they will be working with for the next year or two years, if they have just started their two year term.

Updates will be provided by the Youth Cabinet on their website at http://www.northumberland.gov.uk/youthcabinet or on social media on Twitter at @NCCYouthCabinet and Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/NCCYouthCabinet.

South Tyneside Alex D’Ambrosie, Support Worker Junior LSCB group South Tyneside Council’s Junior Local Safeguarding Children’s Board, (LSCB) group were last month asked to attend an LSCB meeting. Molly who is one of the young people from this group went along to act as a representative. Molly gave an update to the board about what the group

Youth Voice: Positive Stories have been doing over the past few months, which included the recruitment of some new members into the group giving a total membership of 12 aged between 10-15 years old.

The group have organised a workshop day with other services which included The Matrix Drug and Alcohol Service, Youth Justice Service, Open Zone ICT Service and Services for Young People.

During the workshop day the group worked with staff from the different services to look at ideas for their pages on South Tyneside Council’s website. The group decided to focus the website pages to support young people with; bullying, e-safety, sexual health, drug/alcohol misuse and emotional wellbeing.

The Junior LSCB group have also recently merged with South Tyneside Council’s Friends Against Bullies, (FAB) group in order to avoid duplication and to be more effective.

The group have looked at the LSCB Business plan and came up with a child friendly version so children and young people could understand the LSCB’s 6 priorities and decided they would have a Primary School and a Secondary School version in order to achieve this. This year the group are focussing on e-safety and drug/alcohol workshops in Schools and other settings.

Child Poverty Last month 10 young people from South Tyneside Council’s formal participation arrangements attended and actively took part in a regional child poverty event at Durham University. The group thought of ideas regarding what they felt was important to young people in order to prevent child poverty but also what support should also be provided for young people living in poverty. The group plan to further this work by incorporating these findings within South Tyneside Council’s own Poverty Plan.

This event was also supported by South Tyneside Council’s Lead Member for Children, Young People and Families, (Cllr Joan Atkinson) who listened to and discussed the young people’s ideas relating to child poverty and kindly pledged her support to the young people in attendance in order to further this work.

As a result, 4 young people from this group nominated themselves to be part of a young person’s regional child poverty steering group and 2 of these young people will be attending a National child poverty residential in London next month in order to review the various regional workshops that have been taken place so that these findings can be formalised and presented at a future All Party Parliamentary Group, (APPG) meeting.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Child Poverty: London Residential In the February half term approximately 25 students from across the country gathered together at a residential in London to put forward their ideas that would be presented to the Parliamentary Select group of MP’s working on a nationwide Child poverty Policy.

Young people representing Liverpool, Manchester, Tower Hamlets and South Tyneside joined together and worked at the offices of London Youth to present to each other their local strategies that they had come up with at their regional Child Poverty conferences. They debated their strengths and weakness of each other strategies and looked for a common strand of issues that could be researched and formed into a Child Poverty Policy for England.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

The event was facilitated By Children North East working in conjunction with a PHD student from Oxford University and helped the young people to bring the main points together that would form the spine of their policy.

Strong debate took place with the young people and this entailed young people voting to remove some strongly felt local issues and supporting others with the most common issues that affected young people across England.

Young people armed with their policy ended the residential by meeting one of the MP’s of the Child Poverty select committee who gave the advice and guidance of how to proceed with their policy to get it accepted by the Child Poverty Select Committee. Armed with this the young agreed to move it forward by following up with other meetings where they researched information and statistics to strengthen their case for all of the 12 points on their policy.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Trafford Mark Bailey, Support Worker Youth Cabinet 1. Ran a conference for primary school aged pupils to get their views on what needs changing in Trafford 2. Ensured schools voted in UKYP elections.

3. Met with local Healthwatch to plan presentation about emotional health and wellbeing to the local Clinical Commissioning Group.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories 4. Continued to plan work on reporting hate crime and hate crime incidents. 5. Developed an action plan for 2012 Children in Care Council 1. Met with Deborah Brownlee, Corporate Director for Children, Families and Wellbeing, to discuss their work and to raise issues they have been working on.

2. Met with Ged Crowther, Head of Children In Care Service, to find out his response to their annual Children in Care questionnaire.

3. Attended Passport to Parliament event in Liverpool.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Yorkshire and Humber Barnsley Clare Archer, Support Worker Working together with the Council A special meeting of the Youth Council was organised with the Area Governance team of the council to look at ways of working together to get the views of young people better represented in their communities. The meeting generated some good discussion, although some of the information was quite strategic and theoretical the youth councillors were eager to get involved and look at ways of linking together. It was suggested that the April Youth Council meeting would be utilised to discuss the role the youth council could play in area governance in the future. This would be done through workshops involving youth councillors and decision makers.

I also shared the 'Love Where You Live' concept and there was particular interest in 'Let's Grow' as the Youth Council had identified this as a priority themselves. There was a suggestion that the six youth hubs could be used as sites for growing projects and Claire is taking this forward with Public Health and VAB, and will include you if this is going to proceed in your areas.

Incredible Edible After hearing Pam Warhurst speak at the BYC Convention the UKYP members were really inspired and took the idea of Incredible Edible back to the full Barnsley Youth Council. The Youth council sent a letter to the Leader of the Council expressing an interest in how such a scheme might be set up in Barnsley. A response was swiftly received which outlined the Council initiative called Lets Grow which is all about developing community growing schemes and equipping people with skills, knowledge and resources around growing edibles. The letter also gave us the key contact details for the statutory and voluntary organisations involved. Things have moved at a fast pace and after a couple of meetings it has been decided that the Youth Council can lead on a small pilot project at two of Barnsleys IKIC Young Peoples Centres. This is great news and really exciting as the project could really ‘grow!’

Curriculum for Life Campaign Schools have really got on board with the ‘review your school’ pack, the youth councillors, participation workers and teachers are working really hard to get the job done.

The Youth Council are also working closely with the Healthy Settings team do develop and implement a PHSE Toolkit to be used in schools.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Barnsley Youth Council has also been working with decision makers to take the idea of an Anti Bullying Charter forward, so a big thanks to Doncaster for sharing their brilliant resource with us.

Fingers crossed we can get something similar as anti bullying is a high priority for local young people.

Leeds John Wadsworth, Support Worker

The Leeds Youth Council has continued its good progress as we continued to reach out to young people across the city to ensure we are truly representative. Over the past month, Youth Council members have been key in promoting the UK Youth Parliament elections that have been going on in Leeds. In addition to this we have agreed a new policy of theming our updates in each meeting, in order to ensure we have a clear focus and are able to effectively address all the issues Leeds may face.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories With regard to our working groups, our group aimed at ‘staying safe’ has continued to work closely with the police in order to develop a plan to reduce the number of young people who are tragically killed on the city’s roads each year. At the same time, our accessibility working group continues to develop ways to ensure that disabled young people can participate fully in as many activities for young people as possible. Furthermore, I am pleased to announce that Leeds City Council has decided to create a set of area youth forums, each forum will be given a budget which will be used to deliver services directly to local areas, this budget is directly controlled by young people and provides a superb opportunity for young people to ensure their voice is heard.

All Leeds Youth Council members are encouraged to take an active part in these forums as I believe it offers another good opportunity to engage with the young people we represent. Finally, the Leeds Youth Council is always determined to ensure that young people take up the chance to get their voice heard, as a result, several members have met with young people from the city’s Chapel Allerton area alongside their local community in order to discuss how the youth council can be more representative and how they can get involved. I wish our newly elected Youth Parliamentarians the best of look and hope that we can work together effectively in order to continue our good work representing all young people.

Last month the Leeds Youth Council members spent a weekend at Lineham Farm on our annual residential weekend. During the weekend we had lots of fun learning some bush craft skills, concurring fears on the climbing wall and taking part in come dine with me. As well as the fun we also spent time updating our constitution, learning about the new area young people panels, redesigning the LYC website and carrying out consultations from organisations. All in all everyone had a fantastic weekend.

Kirklees Michelle Ross, Support Worker Kirklees Youth Council recently worked in partnership with Northorpe Hall Child and Family Trust to host the first local young carers conference in Kirklees. The event took place on Friday, February 7th at Brian Jackson House, Huddersfield.

The event was designed by young people for young people and was the first of its kind locally.

The conference recognised and celebrated the brilliant job children and young people in caring roles do and supported them to share their collective experiences.

75 young carers from 22 Kirklees schools and colleges attended, supported by 35 professionals from a wide range of agencies. Assistant Director for Family Support and Child Protection, Paul Johnson, helped open the meeting and thanked everyone for their support.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories During the event young people ran workshops that were designed to draw out personal issues and experiences. Workshops included the impact that caring for others has on individuals, service and support mechanisms, sugges-tions for change and the daily challenges faced by young carers.

At lunchtime young carers could browse information stalls including careers, youth services, leisure activities, ap-plying for a Kirklees Passport, Carers Count, Kirklees Youth Council and Children’s Emotional Wellbeing Service (ChEWS).

During the event over 50 young carers were supported to apply for a Young Carers Card. The card is recognised and supported by local schools and colleges. Young carers can show the card to identify themselves as a young car-er in need of extra support. For example, a young carer may need to carry a mobile phone (set to silent) or start or leave school early or be allowed extra time for homework.

Cllr Cath Harris, Joint Cabinet lead for Children and Young People said: “This was a fantastic event and I was de-lighted to be there in support of our amazing young carers”.

“They do a fantastic job in what can sometimes be difficult and challenging circumstances” Professionals agreed that: “We need more events such as this to raise awareness of young carers” “We need to improve the identification process and liaison between agencies” “We need to designate support staff and safe spaces within our schools and colleges” Young carers stated: “Who’d have thought there would be so many of us?”

“I don’t feel like I’m the only one anymore.”

Kirklees Youth Council will now produce a report containing young people’s views.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Scotland North Lanarkshire June Ford, Support Worker Young People from North Lanarkshire Youth Council were invited by the Scottish Parliament to the European and External Relations Committee. They took part in a session delivered by the Parliaments outreach team to find out what Europe and being a member of the EU means to them in light of issues that have been raised from the Government's White Paper. They were keen to hear what young people thought would be the pros and cons of an independent Scotland being part of the EU. The committee is currently running an inquiry and they were keen to make a short film with young people talking about Europe to try to engage young people in the topic.

During visit, the young people were able to sit in on the committee where evidence was being provided from a range sources.

The young people really enjoyed this. Rachel Murphy from Airdrie said: “That was really interesting and I have learned a lot about the pros and cons of being part of the European Union.”

Rhianne Carroll from Cumbernauld said: “Many young people say they are not interested in Politics, but given the opportunity to take part in these discussions they can show politicians that young people are interested and do have an opinion.”

Christina McKelvie, Convenor of the Committee twitted after the event “it was a brilliant afternoon. Well done to all involved.”

To view the video please follow the link below http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/parliamentarybusiness/CurrentCommittees/72953.aspx