Youth Voice: Positive Stories (September 2012)

Youth Voice: Positive Stories September 2012

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Youth Voice: Positive Stories A report by youth representatives and the workers that support them September 2012 Throughout September 2012 we invited youth representatives, including Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs), Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (DMYPs), Youth Councillors, Young Mayors and Deputy Young Mayors, to share their stories of the positive activities they have been engaging in recently.

We also gave workers the opportunity to update us 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, 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 will now remain open and over the next year we will produce a report similar to this one, 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/youth-voice The British Youth Council would like to thank all the workers and young people who took the time to promote and complete September’s survey and we look forward to hearing more from everyone over the coming months.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Contents East Midlands East of England London North East North West South East South West West Midlands Yorkshire and the Humber Northern Ireland Scotland Wales

04 06 09 13 15 17 23 24 28 33 35 38

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East Midlands Leicestershire Nicola O’Neill, support worker Ashleigh O’Mahony, one of our Leicestershire UKYP reps recently received an Oliver Taylor Award at Wreake Valley Academy’s achievement ceremony. The Oliver Taylor Award is awarded to one student in the whole year that stands out amongst all for their contribution in college. Ashleigh was awarded a certificate and £250 from the School Governor.

The commentary, to go with Ashleigh’s award, written by her previous teachers was: “This young woman is a remarkable person. She has had difficult experiences in her life and as a result has developed her own way of looking at life; honest, direct and profoundly caring. She has served as a class representative on the student council for 5 years, on the sports council in year 9 and the uniform committee in year 11. Look a little closer and you will see that she has been developing great powers of persuasion putting forward reasoned arguments. Whenever she sees a situation where students have no advocate, where perhaps natural justice is not being served, she puts herself forward. If the system is not responsive she can adopt alternative strategies. On her own initiative she has organised petitions and canvassed support from the headmaster, Mr Pinnock. She plays a role in a much wider world than our college. She is a member of the Children in Care Council and just recently has been elected to the United Kingdom Youth Parliament. In her own words: "I want to do this for everyone - I'm not the only one struggling." Whenever there is the opportunity to raise money for Children in Need in college she has always gone the extra mile - such as spending all day in a huge, inflatable milkmaid outfit or a cow suit with pink marigolds for udders. The care she takes of her friends is a joy to see. On her work experience she truly looked after and got to know the old people in her care, showing a patience and understanding beyond her years. She still goes back to visit the residents now. Seeing someone take their negative experiences and use them as a fuel for making other people's world a better place is a humbling experience.”

Ashleigh says: “This award has made her feel incredibly proud of myself. Not only because of everything I've done but because I'm one of the smaller percentage of young people in care who don't follow the norm' as such. I just hoped this would somehow impact the way other young people think and act.”

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Lincolnshire Andrew Garbutt, support worker ASB Project Respect (Lincoln City): This project came about due to ASB (anti-social behaviour) with young people at serious risk of being criminalised. The Targeted Youth Support Team (TYS) are working with local partners including the Sports Development Manager and created a seven-week programme with the aim: • •

to deliver fun, interactive and informative sessions and to empower the young people to make better and more informed choices.

It was a project undertaken primarily to address ASB, in partnership with other agencies including Lincolnshire Police and Positive Futures (PF), with contributions from Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue, The Big Society Bubble, and Sports Partnership. Eight disengaged young people (12-18) attended the project. The group had experienced a variety of issues including being missing from home, ASB, assaults from others, self-harming, drug and alcohol use, and withdrawing from engagement with adults in authority.

Most of them had a poor attitude and were very reluctant to join in at the start. However, by the end there was a visible improvement in the way the young people communicated with each other, as well as adults. They showed improved social skills and confidence and a better understanding of acceptable behaviour, ASB, crime and consequences. They had shown their better sides and shared their strengths. One young person commented that he wished it had lasted longer and one engaged so well with staff, their pool playing qualified them for a National tournament. Most of the young people are now engaging with agencies and receiving individual support with one young person engaging with school, after non-attendance for over a year. All are aware of where and how they can access support, advice and guidance.

This project was hard work, but thoroughly enjoyed by all, and really did make a difference to lives.

The police have praised the work, due to the reduction in local ASB and Police callouts.

Caroline Ayres Youth Offer: At September's meeting Lincolnshire Youth Cabinet discussed Lincolnshire's Youth Offer. The Chair will be contacting the Head of service to ask questions and seek clarity especially around community takeover of its local authority youth centres.

Make Your Mark: Cabinet are targeting schools in their areas sending personal letters to student councils asking for support with the ballot.

4th MYP place: The process has begun to elect our 4th MYP from our targeted groups. A visit to the Transition Board (young people with disabilities) already proving a success with two wishing to stand. This is in addition to three DMYPs also looking to fill the spot (two with disabilities and one in residential care). Young carers also have a chance to stand.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East of England Hertfordshire Alex Ferguson, support worker The month started with the BYC Annual Council Meeting in Cardiff when eleven young people from Herts UKYP and Herts1125 attended. Time was taken on the Friday to enjoy ice creams in the sunshine in Cardiff Bay and enjoy a meal out giving the group a chance to get to know each other outside the normal confines of their work. Saturday was spent taking part in the democratic processes of the Annual Meeting including voting in officers, debating motions and representing the young people of Herts.

Ije and Xav travelled to Stevenage to meet with the Children in Care Council to introduce themselves, the work of UKYP and the Herts1125 role. An enthusiastic and knowledgeable group of young people who care passionately about improving things for young people in care; it was a pleasure to hear them speak of what they have achieved so far and what they hope to achieve in the future.

Links with Herts Young Homeless group are beginning to strengthen and the hope is that they too will be represented at the Herts1125 Conference to raise issues that the young homeless in Herts face and how they can best supported.

Preparation for October events has been manic, what with four weekends on the trot to be arranged and supporting paperwork completed. MYPs are working hard in planning of the events, first being at Watford Youth Point and the second at Bowes Lyon House, Stevenage: venues, display boards, registration forms and techy guys that can work the video and camera much more professionally than ourselves are all in place! MYPs will be there to talk to the candidates about their role both locally, regionally and nationally.

This month also brings the BYC Convention in Cambridge where elections for Debate leads at the House of Commons and the East of England Procedure Group Representative will take place. This bought discussions in the group around roles & responsibilities of Debate leads for the House of Commons event as well as those of the Procedures group representative – do our MYPs, most of them at crucial times in their education, have the time and commitment to spare? A resounding yes was the outcome and Herts have one standing for PG Rep and three for debate lead – we shall see what the BYC Convention brings.

The main focus of the meetings has been the Herts1125 Conference and the presentation of the Manifesto for Youth in October. Draft copies have been trawled through, typos and grammar amendments made, sentences read and re-read and re-read again to make sure the document is correct.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Suffolk Support worker Suffolk Youth Parliament have been steadily busy for the past two months actively engaging with, and trying to represent as many young people as possible, here’s some examples of what they have been up to.

Meeting with police and crime commissioner candidates: Suffolk Youth Parliament have been finding out how the candidates for Police & Crime Commissioners plan to work with young people, if elected. In July they met with Jane Basham the Labour candidate at The Junction in Lowestoft, and had some enlightening discussions with her. In August, they met Tim Passmore, the Conservative candidate at the Suffolk County Council head office in Ipswich, Tim pledged to actively listen and engage with young people by having a regular forum.

Meeting with the Deputy Leader of the Green Party: In August, Suffolk MYPs met with Adrian Ramsey, Deputy Leader of the Green Party at Lowestoft College .They contacted him following an article he had written on youth engagement. He is a big fan of Youth Parliament and also a supporter of political education in schools.

Public Transport Campaign: Suffolk UKYP launched an online survey to find out young people’s views and opinions on public transport in Suffolk, the response was phenomenal and because of this two Members of Suffolk Youth Parliament were invited to the first ever Youth Select Committee in Parliament to present their evidence. To follow up on the issues raised and to make changes for young people, UKYP Suffolk launched another online survey on 3rd August through to 18th September- this time they took a solution-focused approach. A meeting was arranged for Monday 24th September, at Council headquarters and included the Leader of Suffolk County Council, Portfolio Holder for Transport (both county and borough), Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, Regional Director of First Buses, Director of Ipswich Buses, representatives for disabled children and other transport operators and senior councillors. Sam Kenward MYP leads the campaign and the meeting was wholly arranged by him. A 17-page analytical report was given to the councillors with the views and opinions of young people. The meeting was youth-lead (despite one councillor trying to take over), and the outcomes were positive. It was the first stage in getting all the parties together. This is just the beginning and UKYP have been asked to be part of a Youth Scrutiny Committee, as well as being part of a youth steering committee, and a few other promises that we will hold them too! We intend to carry out further research and stay in communication with all the parties and advise the transport operators how they can promote discounts to young people, in the places they will see them. This meeting was the first step of many, and some great in-roads made for the MYPs with the transport operators and councillors. I personally feel that the MYPs were an absolute credit to the UKYP, BYC and the young people they represent. The meeting was professional and very well thought through.

Meeting with Children in Care Representatives: We met with the manager of the Looked-After Children Department within the council who explained how the whole system worked in Suffolk and how the young people in care are being represented. The meeting was very enlightening and highlighted issues looked-after children face, which we can now take to the relevant parties. We have also been invited to visit children’s homes and talk to the young people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Visit to HMP Youth Offending Institute Warren Hill: UKYP Suffolk have approached the YOI and have been invited to carry out focus groups with the young people. We are hoping to do this before Make your Mark campaign so we can get the young-offenders issues heard too.

Meeting with Out and About – Disabled Children and Young Persons Charity: We met with a support worker from Out & About and he talked us through the issues disabled young people face.

We also invited him to our transport meeting and he came and represented the disabled children.

UKYP Suffolk Newsletter: UKYP Suffolk will be sending out an e-newsletter once every 2 months to a growing mailing list. We have also applied for funding to get printed copies and distribute in schools, colleges and youth organisations.

Radio Interviews: Sam Kenward MYP has been interviewed 3 times this past month about our transport campaign. He has appeared on BBC Radio Suffolk twice and once on Beach Radio (Local Radio) - he is doing a great job of getting UKYPs name out there and raising awareness.

Make Your Mark: All MYPs are working tirelessly on the campaign. Marco Anderson MYP has got permission for the whole college (1750 students) to complete the ballot. Lewis Old MYP is in meetings with Suffolk New Colleges principal and student union about getting as many students as possible to complete the ballot. Tom Pepper MYP is promoting within his DofE groups and youth groups, Kate Reynolds MYP is working to get her whole school to take part and visiting lots of youth projects in the evenings and Matthew Percy is working on getting it in the libraries and job centres (for the NEET population). Sam Kenward has managed to arrange an assembly for his whole year to take part, and also has managed to get the online links put on local college’s websites and student intranets, as well as his local library and youth clubs.

Articles for PSHE and Council Newsletters: We have been asked twice this month to contribute to other peoples newsletters. We wrote about Make your Mark in a PSHE newsletter which goes to all tutors in the county, and also a Suffolk County Council newsletter. We have also been asked to produce a Youth Edition Council newsletter, which we will arrange next month.

Reducing the Strength Campaign: Matthew Percy MYP attended a launch for a campaign to get extra strong alcohol off the shelves to stop binge drinking. He will support the campaign throughout. MYPs will be focusing on Make your Mark for the early part of October and then we will attack the transport issue once again, and we won't stop until we have achieved what young people have asked for.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

London Islington Davide Mason, 18, V24/24 Volunteer at the British Youth Council In September, four young people between the ages of 18 to 24 joined the British Youth Council as volunteers giving up their time to do all sorts of things, and I am one of them!

In our first weeks we have represented young people at the British Youth Council at events such as the Liberal Democrat’s conference and the Labour conference where we met other organisations such as O2 Think Big and Battlefront who also do very similar things like the British Youth Council.

We also met the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Democrats who we feel really respected us for what we do and our ideas. Also, while at the conferences, we met loads of councils all over the UK which is an amazing experience. Overall we have done some really good work in the short time that we have been at the British Youth Council.

We have learnt loads of new skills and found skills we didn’t know we had such as presentation, how to work in an office environment and that there are people that care about young people and their problems. We have all learnt loads about politics as before we weren’t interested in politics one bit.

We have learnt to develop our telephone skills, are all more confident in speaking in public, have all learnt how to work in a team and how to present ourselves around other organisations. We look forward to further representing young people on behalf of the British Youth Council.

Richmond upon Thames Olivia Mclaren, 15, Youth Councillor Richmond’s Youth Council, supported by Richmond Youth Service, recently finished peer research training, the Youth Council have now been commissioned by PCT to undertake sexual health peer research to find out views from young people about how much they know about the subject. The Youth Council will also be asking for young people’s views on current sexual health provision within the Borough to inform review of the existing sexual health provisions for young people. We will be carrying out this research in youth clubs in all quadrants within our borough.

Richmond Youth Council also attended a short film ‘Eyes of a criminal’. The film was developed by the Youth Offending Service in partnership with the Youth Service and Geese Theatre Company. The film explored the thoughts and feelings of young people who had received court orders and experienced the criminal justice system. The film will be distributed across the borough and across youth offending services across London to use as a resource to reduce offending behaviour with young people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories We are also busy working in partnership with the Richmond Children in Care Council (CiCC) on the development of a new Children’s and Young People’s Plan (CYPP). This will consist of planning consultation days to deliver at schools and youth clubs across the borough to ensure the voice of young people shapes the new plan. It is part of the Council’s Engagement Strategy to involve and work with young people in having a greater voice and shaping services, this is a great opportunity for The Richmond Youth Council and the CiCC to voice the views of young people and work together.

In the last few months our CiCC has made leaps and bounds in terms of our action plan and pledge.

Our action plan was developed earlier this year with the support of the members of the CiCC, Director of Children Services, Lead Member of the council for Children Services and senior management. The action plan consists of an agreement of points between the CiCC and Richmond Council on various issues regarding children and young people looked after and leaving care.

Recently, we’ve brought back the ‘YOU’RE IT’ magazine, after a two year absence, as we felt we were not reaching out to all young people in the care of the Richmond Borough. The magazine is used for and made by young people as a way of mass communication. This helps us to reach all young people, especially those out-of-borough who are not able to keep up with what’s going on in borough and within the Council. ‘YOU’RE IT’ consists of articles and updates on participation from management, as well as cultural activities for looked-after young people. We also feature a questionnaire to help enable young people to give their view in each edition.

At the end of last year the CiCC participated in the Total Respect’s ‘train the trainer’. ‘Train the trainer’ focuses on developing young people’s training and facilitation skills so that they can codeliver the Total Respect course within their own organisation. Total Respect is a training course delivered by young people based on their experiences in care to all members of staff in children’s services in the Richmond Borough, for example, councillors, teachers, social workers, foster carers and senior managers. The two day course focuses on children’s rights especially the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This helps staff look at children’s rights from a young person’s point of view and gives them more of an insight into young people’s experiences in care.

In August 2012, we delivered our first Total Respect training to 14 members of staff from children services in Richmond. This included management, social worker, etc. In the October half term we aim to deliver our second two day Total Respect training to other professionals within the council with the inclusion of foster careers. From this year on wards we aim to deliver Total Respect training at least three times a year. We will keep you updated in future additions of our magazine on the progress of the training.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wandsworth Antonia Dixey, support worker

Youth Opportunity Fund: £30,000 has been given out to young people and their youth projects in Wandsworth (August - September).

British Youth Council's Annual Council Meeting: The Wandsworth Youth Council attended the British Youth Council's Annual Council Meeting. They submitted a Youth Unemployment motion, which was unanimously voted into the BYC's national manifesto.

Youth Inspectors: We are about to start our first Youth Inspection in Wandsworth. We are recruiting new young people to take part in this project. They will inspect Play Centres and Adventure Playgrounds and make their recommendations to budget holders.

Children and Young People Now Award Judging: Two members of the Wandsworth Youth Council supported the judging of the Children and Young People Now Awards. As a reward, they get to attend the award ceremony night in November.

Youth Momentum: The Youth Council have written their Youth Momentum promises. They will be working hard to deliver these promises over the next year. These promises are: As a result of 182 young voices at the Youth Momentum Conference July 3, the Wandsworth Youth Council, are determined to deliver a bigger and more diverse Youth Council, with up to 60 representatives from across the borough. They will meet on a regular basis, and have the opportunity to: • • •

Have their say, meet decision makers, be consulted on issues that matter to them and have fun!

Promote positive youth role models in Wandsworth.

Youth unemployment – start a campaign to support young people staying in education. They want to increase the number of apprenticeships offered to young people in Wandsworth, as well as help advertise these opportunities. The Youth Council would particularly like to target 16-18 year olds in this campaign.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories •

• • •

•

Olympics legacy – run a campaign to increase the number and variety of sports provided in the borough. The Youth Council would particularly like to encourage girls to take up more sports.

Recycling – the Youth Council would like to raise awareness of recycling and composting projects in schools and youth projects.

London disturbances – the Youth Council would like to start a publicity campaign to raise awareness of all the positive things to do in Wandsworth.

Youth volunteering – they want to promote opportunities for young people to volunteer in their borough. This is to help develop their skills, improve their CV, meet new people and have fun outside of school!

We are very busy, and because of this, we have set-up a Youth Council Leadership Group.

This will help us get all the work done, but also allow us to keep up with our passions.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North East Northumberland Luke Bramhall, support worker The Respect Equals Change (REC) Disabled Young People's Council got the opportunity to go to London to watch a day of the Paralympics. The group went down and watched a variety of events such as Boccia, Sitting Volleyball, and Wheelchair Fencing. While in London (some of the group had never spent a night away from their families) the REC members looked at independence and had an opportunity to navigate around, look after their own money, and take control of their own food intake. This was an inspiring opportunity granted to the group following their consistent work in tackling the negative stereotypes that young people have of disabilities. They continue to plan upcoming events as well as meeting with various members of the County Council to develop a promise for Children and Young People in Northumberland with disability. The group have developed and delivered a workshop in a local special school. They have also changed the name of the 'Disabled Children’s Register' to 'Info-Link' to make it accessible to as many people as possible.

Over the last month they have had representation on YPiN (Young People in Northumberland), Takeover Day Steering Group, and the Northumberland Youth Cabinet Film making Competition.

North Tyneside Julia Bradwell, support worker •

• • •

• •

Young Cabinet Member for Environment won an award for organising and involving young people in litter picks across North Tyneside Young cabinet member for Environment attended a greener North Tyneside board meeting, which he found very interesting and hopes to work more closely with them in the future.

Youth Council took part in a consultation on North Tyneside new Youth Provision Strategy and fed back their comments to decision makers in the Local Authority.

Our UKYP member is busy getting the Make Your Mark ballots out to schools and youth groups across North Tyneside.

Our Young Mayor was invited to attend the Northumbria police cadet’s attestation evening The Elected Mayor and the Director of Public Health in North Tyneside and the Health and Wellbeing coordinator met with young person’s Health and Wellbeing group to consult with them on how young people’s views can be fed into decision makers.

The Young Mayor went down to London to review the report that has been written for the Youth Select Committee on Transport.

The Participation and Engagement team are busy recruiting 30 young people to be involved in the British Council’s Active Citizen Programme.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories • •

Youth Councillors are writing articles about their aspirations for the next Teenz magazine in North Tyneside.

Nominations are now open for the Young Mayor and Youth Council elections

South Tyneside Alex D’Ambrosie, Area Services for Young People Manager On Saturday 22nd September 2012, just fewer than 90 young people attended a young people’s Youth Voices consultation event at Ocean Road Community Association.

The event was co-ordinated by South Tyneside Council’s Services for Young People team. It was one of a series of events held throughout the year to capture the views of children and young people about important things that affect their lives. The event offered a series of workshops that allowed young people from across the borough an opportunity to voice their ideas, concerns and ask questions on a range of key topics that affect them, such as; careers education and advice, school attendance, positive activities, anti-social behaviour, and drugs and alcohol misuse.

Young people’s feedback will be collated, analysed and then presented at South Tyneside Council’s Children’s and Families Board. The report will be used to inform and shape future provision for children and young people.

The event was also supported by Helen Watson (Corporate Director for Children, Adults and Families), Cllr Joan Atkinson (Lead Member for Children and Young People) and Olympian Chris Cook.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North West Manchester Emanuela Ekanem, 19, Youth Councillor and Young Peer Since the 1st of September I have participated in a Youth Exchange in Stuttgart, Germany. Myself and another young peer were representing not just the City of Manchester and his Youth Council but the whole country and the British Youth Council. It has been an amazing and inspirational experience where we had the possibility to share the works we are doing in our cities, to exchange ideas and advices.

At the end of our short visit, throughout evaluation we decided that we want to expand this wonderful experience by creating a youth festival, doing a short film with as partner as many countries as we can and to promote another study visit hopefully by the end of May.

Trafford Mark Bailey, support worker • • • • • • • • • • • •

Findings from the youth cabinet's emotional health and wellbeing campaign were presented to stakeholders at a CAMHS commissioning event in Sale.

The Trafford Against Bullying policy, which was heavily influenced by youth cabinet, was officially launched at a Safeguarding Board event.

Members met with Trafford's Police Superintendent to discuss the new stop and search policy in Trafford.

Member met with Dan Moxon of NWRYU to begin work on a school nurse charter.

Members attended the 'what's youth got to do with it?' debate at Manchester Town Hall as part of the Labour Party conference.

Members met with Kate Green, MP for Stretford and Urmston, to discuss proposed changes to a local hospital and the proposed changes to GCSE's.

Members gave feedback to BYC about their guides for working with young people of faith.

Members continued working on their campaign to improve emotional health and wellbeing.

Children in Care Council members Doug Gurr began his two year apprenticeship with the Trafford Children's Rights Service.

Members presented the results of their questionnaire sent out to all children and young people in care in Trafford to the Corporate Parenting Board.

Members planned an event where they will talk to managers in the care system about common problems for children and young people in care.

Members began planning the Children in Care which they will plan and host. They will also decide who gets an award from nominations from social workers and foster carers.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Nick Brown, 13, Member of Youth Parliament I had a meeting with one of the MP's in our area, Kate Green. I discussed transport, policing and about the closure of the only A&E in Trafford. We said that the consultation currently going on only touches slightly on young people and that we think a separate consultation should be going on for young people in Trafford. We also discussed why her constituency has considerably less members on the Trafford Youth Cabinet; she said she will look into it.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South East East Hampshire Liam Moloney, support worker This month the members of the East Hampshire Youth Council have been working hard to write and edit their Screamin’ Out Loud magazine. It’s a magazine written by young people for young people and it’s distributed to schools across East Hampshire. It’s one of the Youth Council’s favourite projects where they can really get their opinions heard. They write two editions each year and the September 2012 edition is the 27th written by the Youth Council. This edition is focused on Butserfest, a drug and alcohol free festival aimed at young people run by East Hampshire District Council.

The Youth Council members ran a stall at the festival handing out info about the Youth Council and they administered a questionnaire to try and find out how the young people attending would improve the festival. They managed to get 72 people to fill out the questionnaires and their effort will ensure that the festival can stay relevant for young people in the coming years. The Youth Council also interviewed 5 bands who were playing at Butserfest for their Screamin’ Out Loud magazine including the headliners Kids in Glass Houses.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

East Sussex Amy Gough, 16, Youth Cabinet Member and Young Mayor I have been Young Mayor of Seaford since April 1st 2012 and I can’t wait to start planning the year ahead. I have really enjoyed representing young people on the local council because it gives me the chance to make a difference in Seaford. I have been a part of projects such as the Green Gym on our local recreational ground and the Young Mayor’s Awards 2012. Personally, I feel that the Young Mayor’s Awards have been the most rewarding part of my role so far. This is because it gives the community a chance to recognise talented and brave young people in Seaford, and reward them for their hard work (for example young carers will have the opportunity to spend a day as a zookeeper in Drusilla’s).

I have also been an East Sussex Youth Cabinet (ESYC) member since November 2011, where I represent the Coastal constituency. I am really enjoying being a part of the Youth Cabinet because it has given me so many great opportunities personally and for the community, including the BYC Summit.

The BYC convention was focused on career opportunities and work experience in local communities.

We took part in a series of activities that encouraged us to share our opinion on how we would like to see councils deal with youth unemployment and the rising lack of opportunities for young people in the work place.

As part of the ESYC I’ve chaired meetings and helped to develop campaigns; at a recent residential I was lucky enough to Chair of the first half of the trip. I really enjoyed arranging the tasks and agendas, and giving thought to how we could work. I think that I did a fairly good job of Chairing because I kept things under control, but still made the sessions fun (I hope!).

On the 26th September, ESYC had its first working group meeting with East Sussex County Council’s Economy, Transport and Environment department to explore setting up a 3-in-1 card for young people. This was a fantastic meeting! We got a deeper understanding on how transport works in the county, as well as exploring the challenges and opportunities within this, and share our aims, goals and ideas with the professionals! We really impressed them with our knowledge! We now have a good plan to explore further together.

Finally, ESYC asked to be part of budget setting for the year ahead and the county council are now helping us to understand and be involved in the discussion of this process.

East Sussex has been at the forefront of developing and running successful Children in Care Councils (CICC) since September 2008. Recently our CICC introduced the idea of SUSS IT sessions (Speak up Sessions) where CICC members regularly attend our holiday activities to ask Children in Care if they are happy where they live and if they needed help with anything. Some of the younger children took the opportunity to ask for help with issues such as how to see more of their family or siblings or how

Youth Voice: Positive Stories to deal with school bullying. The CICC are really pleased to help and it seems it is easier for the children to talk to other young people in care who could identify with their problems. All the issues are followed up quickly with their social workers.

Our CICC take every opportunity to let those in charge know about the issues that concern young people in care. They have also met with the local judges, magistrates and the Children's Minister Tim Loughton and felt really listened to. CICC go from strength to strength and we are so proud of them all.

Kent Tamanna Miah, 19, UK Young Ambassador This was my first trip representing the UK at a European level so I was bound to be nervous especially going to another country I barely knew about! Luckily I was well prepped beforehand by my fellow colleagues and UKYAs. When I got to Cyprus I was left on my own by the other UKYA's as we were in different hotels, but I had a bit of a chance to explore the area and pick up some souvenirs before the busy conference agenda started!

The European Conference of Youth 2012 was on ‘Youth Participation and Social Inclusion’ with particular emphasis on young people with a migrant background. Being a second generation migrant myself I could really relate to the daily challenges that young migrants face despite having lived in the UK for the majority of my life.

From our migration roundtable as part of the UK consultation, three issues were really important for us to share. These were access to all types of health services in an EU country, fairer working conditions with more good practices such as vocational training, counselling centres and job mentoring schemes and language as a barrier to getting the things young migrants need. It was an interesting but difficult process, full of debating, spider diagrams, arguments and long discussions!

Taking all the issues from across Europe and trying to come up with 14 recommendations was pretty tough.

I enjoyed meeting a variety of young people from all different backgrounds, it was interesting to see how alike we were in terms of our thought processes and how many of us were on the same wavelength - we had much more in common than I thought! I found it interesting hearing the different stories of migrants and how active they were within their communities.

I thought it was interesting how the UK delegation were one the youngest and was quite surprised to see adults over the age of 30 described as 'young people', I found that many were well spoken and half the time I didn't understand their terminology.

My geography was improved as I learnt more about the history and culture of Cyprus than when I left, particularly about the divide of Cyprus - Turkish part and Greek part! Although it was a surprise to see 'Pizza Hut' around the corner from my hotel!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories I want to see our recommendations being implemented and taken into account especially as it took us a long time to narrow it down! I hope that they are turned into worthwhile policies or laws that will have an impact on young people and hopefully change their lives. I want to see more young people being involved in decision making and policy making, regardless of their background, so that they feel they are also making a difference to others.

(PS. I also got involved with creating the film for the final joint recommendations which included acting, miming, slow motion running, robot moves and high school musical jumps! Look out for the video!)

Milton Keynes Elizabeth Beale, 16, Member of Youth Parliament What a busy month! With this year’s Big MK Youth Debate on the 26th October 2012 there is so much work to do. We are so pleased to have some amazing panellists including Iain Stewart and Mark Lancaster (MP's for MK), David Hill (Chief Executive at MK Council) and Gail Tolley (Director or Children’s and Young Peoples Service at MK Council), as well as grateful for being allowed to use a room at the Double Tree Hotel at the MK Dons Stadium again this year for free. The Debate gives the city’s young people a chance to put their views on various issues to those responsible for making decisions.

Young people are amazing and such a strong part of our community, yet they are often underrepresented when it comes to making decisions, this event aims to change that. At the end of the event the young people will walk away having learnt/improved a skill in the workshop session, visited the info-fair stalls and seen the outcome of the panel debates when each panellist makes a pledge to them. On top of organising this event the local youth MP's have finished compiling their report on political education and are looking to present this to decision makers shortly. Let’s hope they listen!

The Big MK Youth Debate has been funded by the vInspired cash point scheme where other young people can go online to apply for a grant themselves.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

West Sussex Karl Clare, 21, Children in Care Council West Sussex visit's Italy: What can I say about Italy? What can I say to explain the amazing experience we had when abroad? Because frankly to me, it was next to none. I mean, personally I hadn’t even been on a plane before this trip!

Arriving in Italy the first things that hit me were the heat and the smell! And then the realisation that I certainly wasn't in England anymore. The week itself was phenomenal. I learnt so much, the differences between home and Puglia a fairly large - from the way time is perceived to the minimal amount of traffic lights in the town of Poggiardo! When there we had an amazing chance to interact with both Italians and Turkish people, delivering training on the Mi-Voice system and social media as a tool for consultation. Helping to lead both sessions gave me an idea of just how hard it is to present something with a language barrier. There were members of the group who spoke either no or little English and breaking that language barrier was really interesting and I learnt a lot from that.

We spent two of the six days doing cultural learning - exploring the local areas of Otranto, Lecce and of course Poggiardo itself and observing the differences in culture between West Sussex and there and again it was an invaluable experience.

I opted to do research on mental health while in the country and compare the attitudes to it in West Sussex and Puglia, that way I could see if there was anything that could be mirrored back at home for the young people I represent and brought into the Free Your Mind campaign which I am coleading nationally around breaking the taboos that surround mental health.

I found out a fair amount about how to break down the language barrier that was so prominent all week as well as everything else. This was a real challenge but one that I enjoyed a lot – as did most of the others on the trip from what I understand!

One of the day’s we were in Italy, we spent a while with Turkish and Italian young people talking about social networking. Here is what Karl had to say about the day. We discussed with a group of Turkish young people aged 19-24 about all the different types of social media that we use as a consultation tool in England and also in Turkey. We compiled a list of these and that list consisted of: Facebook, Twitter, Meetik, Tmblr, Wordpress, Badoo, Instagram, Formspring, Ask.me and counchsurfing.

Facebook, Twitter and Blogs are the most popular forms of social media platforms within Italy and Turkey. The Turkish people suggested that an incentive is used to engage an emotional response from our Facebook friends as this would help us get as many responses as we possibly can. They also agreed that it is a good idea to set up a specific research page or a new account in order to gain a more professional opinion.

Social Networks allow more freedom for young people to explore their identities away from the constraints of adults because in Italy, up to the age of 18, the young person does whatever the family deem to be correct. Social networking is also very useful as it gives young people the ability to pursue work opportunities be it voluntary or paid employment. It was very interesting to hear all the different ways that social media is used by the Italians and Turkish, and also all the different opinions

Youth Voice: Positive Stories on which social networking platform is most suitable for different things. In conclusion we had a very good day and learnt a lot that we may be able to use back in England.

Overall the trip was phenomenal and we really had an amazing experience from it, I would really recommend it to any group to do, because honestly the amount learned from it was amazing and there is so much more now that can be passed on to our constituents.

Kate Moore, 18, Member of Youth Parliament •

•

•

• •

Standing Officers Group has been set up to organise the work of the Countywide Cabinet.

They have an active role in managing funds, communications, and setting targets and policies for the Cabinet.

Youth Cabinet Reps are taking part in a Police and Crime Commissioner simulation event; at which participants consider how a set of hypothetical but realistic challenges would affect their organisation or interests.

The Voice and Engagement Team hosts an exciting conference in early October: “So What?

Who’s listening to your VOICE?” with aims to define ways of measuring the success of youth voice, and give young people more skills to shape services. It’s supported/delivered by Health, Education, Police, BYC, and of course the Youth Cabinet, Youth MPS and Children in Care Council.

Children’s Commissioner’s Takeover Day gains momentum in West Sussex, with a diverse range of opportunities stacking up for young people to access.

The Children in Care Council met to feedback on the EPIC Awards, and make suggestions for next year’s event. They also completed a consultation on Health and Well Being needs of young people in care.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

South West Devon Emilie Adams, 17, Member of Youth Parliament I have been working with other young people’s groups, such as Young Devon who organised a massive clear up of community gardens.

Dorset Jake Carroll, 13, Deputy Member of Youth Parliament This month I have been lucky enough to be able to help distribute money for YOF (Youth Opportunity Fund) that will help many young people.

In early October I am also very lucky to be visiting the Big Ben clock tower with some other DYCE members from Dorset; I will follow this in next month’s report. I am also helping with Dorset's make your mark campaign.

Poole Jack Matthews, 15, Member of Youth Parliament September was another busy month, in which I worked towards our Priorities and represented the young people of Poole.

•

•

•

I helped organise a weekend of volunteering with the lifeboat charity, the RNLI, at the Bournemouth Air Festival. Over two days, 10 of us engaged over 1600 young children with a fun safety quiz to promote sea and beach safety.

I attended the Borough of Poole's Young People's Overview and Scrutiny Committee Meeting, which was very informative in describing some of the Council's changes to local youth services.

I promoted the British Youth Council's 'Make Your Mark' scheme by making a YouTube video on the 15 issues, and worked to engage local schools in the voting process.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

West Midlands Sandwell Shobha Sharma, support worker Campaign: The Sandwell Shadow Youth Cabinet (SSYC) has been busy representing the voice of Sandwell young people through campaigns, engagements and attendance at events. Currently amongst other duties, they are working on their first Campaign, which is Youth Unemployment. As part of their campaign they are meeting with key officers, agencies and organisations responsible for development of and providing employment opportunities for young people.

Alternative Olympics: Planning, involving and delivering to some 350 young people from across Sandwell their “Alternative Olympics”. This included competitive team sports, penalty shoots, climbing wall, dancing and lots more. The event was opened by the Deputy Mayor Councillor Vic Silvester and Deputy Mayoress Carol Silvester.

Positive Activities for young people: Two members of the SSYC worked in partnership with the local Community Radio Station RAAJ FM and promoted the work of the SSYC and United Kingdom Youth Parliament (UKYP) and the, summer Positive Activities for Young People on offer in Sandwell.

Riots 2011: As the anniversary for the Summer Riots 2011 was coming up, Midlands Today made a special report collating the views of younger and older people. Four young people from SSYC and Smethwick Youth Council were invited to participate with one young member being on the panel.

MYP Abu Syddek was interviewed live by BBC Midlands about his memories of last year’s riots.

British Youth Council Annual Council Meeting: Four young representatives from SSYC attended the Annual Council Meeting in Cardiff to celebrate British Youth Council’s (BYC) achievements and also to help shape the future of BYC work, through discussion and debate. They also voted on a proposed new Board of Trustees structure and voted people onto the Board.

UKYPs “Make Your Mark”: The Members of Youth Parliament and their deputies have actively been consulting with their constituents to provide them with a chance to vote for their top issues which they feel should be debated in the House of Commons on 23rd November 2012.

West Midlands Police consultation event at Tally Ho: UKYP and SSYC members attended the interactive Police Consultation event at Tally Ho Centre to provide their opinions and views on how to improve the police service in its current form and as the new Police Crime and Commissioning Authority.

Young people fed back that the event was quite interactive with a good flow of communication between police and young people. Chief Superintendent Mark Robinson and Inspector Harvi Khatkar were present to meet and support Sandwell young people.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Chief Superintendent Mark Robinson said: “My engagement and ongoing relationship with young people in Sandwell and especially the Youth Cabinet has been inspiring. The talent that our young people possess regardless of personal background is clear to me. Our challenge and professional responsibility is to harness that talent, working with them and more importantly, listening to them, I believe we can make a real difference together. The disorders of August 2011 taught me many things but not least of all that the vast majority of young people are good, keen to learn and want to make positive contributions now and in the future.”

Smethwick Youth Council: Ahmed Boston – Chair of Smethwick Youth Council attended the West Midlands Faiths Forum called Louder than Words – the riots one year on – now what. As a participant he explored with others present the practical links between faith, family life and wider society. Ahmed commented, “it was a worthwhile event and very informative”. He also attended a ceremony to mark a memorial in Victoria Park, Smethwick in remembrance of the three young men that lost their lives during the riots of August 2011.

Intergenerational Work: The Smethwick Youth Council has been in receipt of Proceeds of Crime funding from the Police. The Youth Council are currently working on a project with local Smethwick Soho and Victoria friends and neighbours forum to produce a theatre production which will highlight the good work Smethwick young people are doing to improve the relationship between the police and general community. The outcome will be to stage a performance to the local community and local decision makers including the police. A DVD of the performance will also be available.

Oldbury Youth Council: Kind hearted young people and staff from Oldbury Youth Council gave up their time to host the World’s Biggest MacMillan coffee morning to raise funds for cancer. Vakini Shanmugaranjan commented, “I am excited and looking forward to the coffee morning to raise funds for this valuable cause”.

Wednesbury Youth Council: Wednesbury Youth Council were delighted to find they had won the first prize of £100 and a video camera for a Stay Safe competition run by West Midlands Police. The competition encouraged youth groups to develop a project that could be used to send a message to youngsters about staying safe on a topic of tackling the issue of mobile phone theft and grabbed the opportunity to make an informative video.

The prize was awarded by WMP Chief Superintendent Mark Robinson and PC Treasure – Youth Engagement Officer. Councillor Linda Horton congratulated the Wednesbury Youth Council on their success and raising awareness of such an important issue. Cllr Linda Horton commented: “The video is very true to life. It’s great to see young people coming up with their own ideas and putting them into action.”

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wolverhampton Hannah Scragg, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Yet another busy few months for Wolverhampton City Youth Council – it seems like there is always something to keep us occupied.

During the six weeks holidays members of Wolverhampton City Youth Council conducted an exchange with Yorkshire Action Kouncil (YAK) which involved meeting their members and sharing tips on how to run a successful campaign and also Youth Council. This was part of a tour of local youth facilities, not just in Wolverhampton but across the Midlands, this also gave us the opportunity to talk to other young people, and determine how we can represent a wider variety of young people. The visits included local youth clubs, such as Springfield and Ashmore as well as Ettingshall, Lunt and Chesserton Vision Centre, funded my My Place. The visits provided us an invaluable insight into the Youth Service as well the opportunity to hear from the young people we represent.

Members of the UK Youth Parliament also had the opportunity to attend the National Sitting, which this year was held in Nottingham, the MYP’s had an amazing experience, and took part in some fantastic workshops as well as hearing from some inspirational speakers such as John Bercow, speaker of the House of Commons. Vennanda Madanhi member of Wolverhampton City Youth Council said: “The UKYP Annual Sitting has truly been an event I won’t be forgetting anytime soon. The different activities on the programme have all been phenomenal from the public speaking workshop to the Question Time. I enjoyed the motivational speeches from the likes of Mr Speaker, Eric John and Franklyn. The question I would like to ask is what are the MPs and speakers doing to help improve how young people are portrayed in the media?”

Youth Council members also got the opportunity to attend the British Youth Council’s ACM, which was held in Cardiff this year. The event included the election of new Chair Rosina St James, as well as Vice Chair and BYC Trustees. The event was enjoyed by all, with the highlight being Wolverhampton’s own Jordan Dearn proposing a motion to BYC regarding Equal Marriage. He states: “Equality is at the heart of BYC. This motion concerns a key equality issue that I believe is important for all of us to support and actively campaign on. Equal marriage is important to ensure same sex couples have the same opportunity as heterosexual couples and to ensure their relationship is recognised in the same way by our society. Currently in Britain, same sex couples, deeply in love, who wish to make a long term life commitment to each other are only entitled to a civil partnership ceremony. Same sex couples are unable to have their relationship recognised as a marriage. They are not regarded as married and Civil partnership is not viewed as the same thing at all. I put it to you, that Love is love regardless of gender.”

This motion was passed, and all of us at Wolverhampton City Youth Council are extremely proud of Jordan.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

A consultation that was conducted by Wolverhampton City Youth Council regarding the 16-19 Bursary was presented via a report to local Councillors and decision makers at the Children and Young Peoples Scrutiny Panel, in which it was agreed that further work needed to be conducted in Wolverhampton regarding this issue. Some of the findings included when students were asked ' Is the bursary scheme promoted well in your school? ' 361 young people said no or don't know with only 60 individuals believing that the bursary is well promoted. A number of students portrayed confusion about the new system, some unsure about how the money was distributed, who was eligible and how to apply for the bursary. This can be seen in the responses of the young people in which the most popular answer to our questionnaire was 'don't know'. Younger students also had no idea about the new 16-19 Bursary Scheme compared to the previous Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA), which was largely known by a number of secondary school children across the City.

Exciting plans to develop a “Youth Zone” in Wolverhampton have also been unveiled. Members of the council's Cabinet gave the go-ahead for the authority to provide £3m towards the construction of the Youth Zone and a further £400,000 per year to its running costs. It also agreed to provide a location in the city centre for the facility, which will be for young people aged 8-21 years old.

Members of the Youth Council have previously visited Youth Zone’s in Bolton as well as Manchester, and the Youth Council supports the development of a Youth Zone within the City – provided it is in the right location with plentiful access to transport, and should be affordable to all young people.

However we believe the Youth Zone cannot be provided at the expense of the existing Youth Service; this includes youth clubs and youth workers, as this would have a detrimental effect on the service provided but instead should be complimentary to the current Youth Service.

Wolverhampton City Youth Council also planned a Midlands Choose Youth Rally to take place at Springfield Youth Centre on Saturday 22nd September 2012. Members have been planning this day for months; this included organising the speakers, workshops, marquee, refreshments as well as advertisement. Over 100 people attended the event, this included members from Birmingham Youth Council and even Devon Youth Council – who definitely came the furthest! BBC Midlands Today also attended the event, and interviewed several members of the Youth Council. It was great to see so many people getting involved, and also hearing some inspirational speeches from Doug Nicholls, GFTU, Birmingham MYP’s and BYC Vice Chair (Campaigns & Communications) Dara Farrell. I would like to express a massive thank you to Marie Taylor, Lucy Goodison and Andrew Scragg – without it the day would have not been possible as well as The TUC, who provided much needed financial support, as well as all of the help from the British Youth Council (especially Paul Boskett).

The Youth Council intend to continue working hard to ensure young people are represented not just locally, but also nationally. Upcoming events include the Policing Dinner, the NHS Council of Members and Wolverhampton City Youth Council AGM.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Yorkshire and the Humber Barnsley Clare Archer, support worker and Youth Council Coordinator The Barnsley Youth Council, UKYP members and the Care 4 Us Council have had a busy month. Here is an overview of some of the main areas of work for September, all of which have been supported by the Participation and Inclusion service.

Make Your Mark: Young people across Barnsley have been taking part in the Make Your Mark ballot we have received 786 ballots so far and hope to exceed the 2,000 target. To date the top issue voted for is ‘make public transport cheaper, better and accessible for all.’

Transport Conference: On Saturday 22nd Sept York hosted a conference focusing on Buses in the Yorkshire and Humberside region. Young people elected to the UK Youth Parliament and local Youth Councils hosted bus service providers, elected members and transport officials from across Yorkshire and Humber at a productive ‘Open Space’ style event. The young people were determined not just to call for better services, but to seriously work with everyone involved in buses to make services, cheaper, more accessible, reliable, safer, attractive to use and more convenient to pay for. The Barnsley representatives shared the excellent Mi Card scheme which gives young people in Barnsley up to the age of 18 reduced fares of 30p per journey across the Borough. The Mi Card scheme was considered a good practice scheme and other areas would like to implement something similar. An action point for the young people was to find out more information about school buses in Barnsley, as it was identified that this area could benefit from improvements.

Young Carers Card: Work is continuing in partnership with Barnardos and two Secondary schools in Barnsley to effectively implement the Young Carers Card. There is commitment and support for the Card and work is progressing at a steady pace.

Big Conversation: As a result of the ongoing government spending review, public services in Barnsley are continuing to deal with major cuts. As the Council continue to make further savings it is inevitable that they will no longer be able to offer all the services people have got used to. Therefore a week long Big Conversation took place with a wide range of residents of the Borough. The Council recognised the importance of involving young people in this ‘conversation’ and various focus groups took place including a very successful one with the Barnsley Youth Council and the UKYP representatives. The young people discussed with key decision makers their priorities for the communities which they live and for Barnsley as a whole. They also discussed the government spending cuts and how these may impact upon future services and facilities.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Care 4 Us Council: The young people held their full meeting in September. The main issue the young people agreed to take forward with the support of key decision makers was to work towards improving local work experience and apprenticeship schemes for young care leavers this would be a major step forward to achieving the overall aim of engaging more young people in the care system into education work and training.

YAAG Panels: Quarterly Youth Area Advisory group panels take place across the borough. The third meetings for this year are currently taking place. YAAG panel members are dedicated young people who are recruited from the youth council, school councils and other youth groups. They are supported by their area Youth Participation Worker to plan and deliver quarterly panels which create the opportunity for other young people to bring their issues to the panel and with support access key decision makers.

Visitors from Germany: Members of the Youth Council were invited to attend a morning with the Mayor and other elected members to meet with visitors from Barnsley’s twin town Schwabisch Gmund. One of the young people was an elected representative of the Schwabisch Gmund Youth Council. Discussions took place around the differences and similarities between the two Youth Councils and towns. Plans of how to link up in the future were discussed.

Doncaster Jasmine Womack, 17, Member of Youth Parliament and Youth Councillor Doncaster Youth Councillors held a meeting at the Mansion House this month where they presented their priorities for the year to the full council, The Mayor and his Cabinet members. The meeting went very well and the youth councillors received praise and positive feedback from ward members in terms of their presentation skills and their chosen priorities which are to: •

•

•

Champion sports in and around Doncaster – they aim to encourage young people to get involved in sporting activities, they believe this will improve social outcomes which will in turn benefit local communities.

Raise Awareness & Celebrate MultiCultural Doncaster – they aim to raise awareness of the diverse cultures in Doncaster.

Champion the equality of provision for young people across the Borough – they aim to promote equality for young people to have access to somewhere to go, something to do, someone to talk to in their neighbourhoods.

During the course of the meeting it was suggested that the Youth Council should hold regular meetings with the Mayor or the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, this would enable

Youth Voice: Positive Stories young people's voices to be heard at a senior level and ensure that Doncaster Youth Council has a political and senior level buy-in from the Local Authority in place.

With support from the Active Involvement Team Doncaster Youth Councillors have organised and planned Youth Surgeries across the borough. These sessions have been set up to ensure that the voices of young people are heard at a local and neighbourhood level, the sessions provide the opportunity for young people to discuss their issues of concern and voice their opinions on their communities. The sessions are held at various centres across the borough. Ward members and Youth Council members work together meeting peers and discussing issues of concern for young people in their communities. Youth Surgeries help to build relationships between young people and adults thus breaking down barriers and negative perceptions between the generations.

The second phase of Youth Surgeries are planned to start on Monday the 8th of October, we believe this will bring us more feedback about young people’s views in Doncaster. At the previous surgeries I found the young people were very eager to join in our sessions and present us with issues in their local areas. The Youth Council is working with young people in all areas of Doncaster to receive their views and feedback so we can make changes; we are holding 17 surgeries in local centres to show young people our dedication towards ensuring young people have their say.

Hull Ruth Cowlam, support worker Young Carers Card pilot comes to an end!

In March 2012 the UKYP representatives launched the Young Carers Card in Hull. They decided to pilot it in one of the local secondary schools – Winifred Holtby. There are five known young carers who attend the school. The UKYP representatives have recently met with the young carers to find out how the Card is working.

The general feedback is that it is working well for the both the young carers and also the teachers.

On Friday 21st September Wes (MYP) gave a live radio interview for Radio Humberside on how the Card had come about. Billy, a young carer at Winifred Holtby, also gave a brilliant interview on how he has benefited from having the Card. He said that before he got the Card he felt like “giving in”.

We will now be supporting the Card in being rolled out across the City! – Well done UKYP. Transport Campaign: Since the transport campaign began last November the members of the UKYP have met with representatives from both travel operators in Hull. They have been able to put forward young people’s concerns with regards to the cost of bus fares, bus driver’s attitudes and safety on the buses. One local bus company listened to the young people’s ideas and put on a summer scheme. The same bus company is also keen to meet with focus groups of young people in October to consult them on bus issues. We feel that now we have a direct link with the travel operators and know where to go with young people’s transport ideas.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories Make Your Mark: Throughout the last couple of months the UKYP representatives have been out in force to gather young people’s votes. They are eager to get to the 3,000 mark that they have committed to in Hull. On a hot weekend at the beginning of September Hull held its annual Freedom Festival. UKYP spent four hours in the town centre speaking with young people about the campaign and asking them to fill in the ballot papers. As well as meeting new people they managed to collect about 300.

Well done! Goodbye and Good luck: Wesley Parkinson (MYP) from Hull has played a major part in the work that UKYP does for the last two years. He has worked hard and been totally committed to the campaigns such as the Young Carers Card and the Transport one, as well as the issues that are affecting young people locally. Young people locally will remember him for his chairing skills at the Hull Young People’s Parliament. He was elected as MYP at a Hull Young People’s Parliament and was also recently elected on to the National Scrutiny Group. Now after his two years of representing young people in Hull he is moving on to York University. We (workers and young people) will miss him and want to wish all the very best. Craig Clark, Voice and Influence Manager for Hull said that Wes was “a great ambassador for the young people of Hull”.

The Freedom Festival: The weather was hot and the town was buzzing and Tom, Evie and Wes saw the opportunity to go out and get some ballot papers filled in. Between them, over the four hours that they were out they managed to fill in about 300. Well done to them!

North Yorkshire Liam Cutler, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Busy month... as usual but the main thing was the Yorkshire and Humber transport meeting. This was an opportunity for MYPs to meet with bus companies and county councillors, with both sides trying to work towards a common aim: how to get more young people using public transport.

The day accomplished a lot. It was a great opportunity to express ideas. Each individual local authority will now be able to work on the transport issues affecting them, in partnership with their bus company.

Ride Around For £1: The scheme over the summer has now finished, with a huge 10,000+ tickets being sold. Although some operators saw a fall in revenue, the scheme was deemed a great success.

It is fantastic to see so much hard work paying off - at last! But, that's not all... It was announced recently that Ride Around For £1 is coming back FOR ONE WHOLE YEAR! The scheme will run until October 2013. It will largely be the same, albeit with a few changes. Told you we've had a busy month!

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

James Parkes, Youth Engagement Officer We are pleased to see a continuation of the scheme with ‘One way £1’ (£1 per single journey) lead

by DITA the scheme will run from 27th October, weekday evenings after 5pm and weekends and School Holidays at any time.

Sheffield Support worker A story of youth coming together - by Chiwoniso. D. Mukome Over the past few months Sheffield Futures Involvement Team has been working closely with the Community Youth Teams to set up Youth Forums / further develop existing ones, within Sheffield’s seven community assemblies. Six out of seven Youth Forums are active and meet weekly or after every fortnight.

Youth Forums give young people the opportunity to express their views and concerns to local decision makers and CYP service providers. The forums also encourage young people to take an active role within their communities and to make a positive difference in their local areas. The Youth Forums link and feed into other citywide initiatives such as; Sheffield Young Advisors, Sheffield Youth Council and UK Youth Parliament, therefore giving young people a voice on a much wider scale.

In order to guarantee representation within the Youth Forums, the involvement workers have recruited two young people from each school and two young people from the local youth centres, both from within their Community Assemblies. This approach has been effective in recruiting a diverse range of young people. Each Youth Forum has been, or is currently involved in, a range of work both exciting and inspiring.

The North East Youth Forum is currently undertaking an evaluation of Parson’s Cross Library. The Northern Youth Forum will be attending a briefing meeting where they will formally introduce themselves to their local councillors and present their key priorities for the year. The South East Youth Panel is in the process of developing a skateboarding park and will be attending a public meeting on the 26th of September where they will present a petition. Furthermore, the South East Youth Panel is carrying out a consultation on young people’s provision in their area; their findings will be fed into the South East’s Community Assembly plan. The South and South West Youth Forums have been undertaking training on what being a Youth Forum member entails.

The setting up of the Youth Forums has been an exhilarating albeit challenging process. Nonetheless, the team has managed to achieve its set objectives and will continue to empower young people and make sure their voices are heard.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

North Ireland Antrim Cliodhna Symington, 13, Member of Youth Parliament This month I took part in a fundraising event for a local charity that works with young people with disabilities. I went along to introduce myself as a Member of the UKYP and to highlight the organisation to those involved. The event was an abseil to raise money for the Donkey Sanctuary. I am really passionate about this charity as I have seen the difference the assisted therapy makes first hand. In the end we raised ÂŁ480. I think it is really important as an MYP to support local work with young people from all backgrounds as it is my job to find out their views and needs and represent them.

Belfast Rory Copeland, 16, Member of Youth Parliament This month I attended a residential for young people from across the NE of Northern Ireland. These young people had been actively involved in leading and designing peace related projects in their areas to address issues of sectarianism, racism and inter- generational tensions. I heard their feedback from the groups and spoke to them about UKYP and the Make Your Mark Campaign and the group of 70 young people all completed the survey.

Carrickfergus John Cameron, 17, Member of Youth Parliament Over the past month I have been meeting with youth groups and schools in my area to promote UKYP and the Make Your Mark Campaign. These meetings were initially to do a lot of on the ground work to try and get as many ballots completed as possible. It has been a great opportunity to address so many young people and to tell them of the work of UKYP and also to get them involved by voting on the Make Your Mark campaign. This month I became a bit of a celebrity as my story of travelling to the annual meeting had been published in the local newspaper and sent through every door in Carrickfergus. Again, it has been great in promoting the work of the UKYP.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Down Serena Mills, Member of Youth Parliament September is a busy month, with everyone heading back to school and back to routine. However this is a perfect opportunity to spread the word about Youth Parliament. Since returning to school I have been chatting to as many year groups as possible, telling them a little bit about what we have been doing in the Northern Ireland Youth Forum and encouraging them to have their say.

September is also the month of the make your mark campaign. I have really enjoyed handing out ballot papers in school and in the city centre and involving young people who otherwise would not be interested. I have also returned to GB this month as a young leader. Despite the fact that they are mainly under the age of seven there are a few older ones who took an interest.

Lisburn Asa Mallon, 14, Member of Youth Parliament One campaign I have focused on since I have been elected is Mental Health Campaign. This focuses on the needs of young people in Northern Ireland where the rate of mental health difficulties and suicide are very high among. Last year the Make Your Mark Campaign showed that Mental Health was the second biggest issue in NI. Before the summer we did a small campaign raising the awareness of exam stress. This month we have started to explore the second phase of the campaign where we will promote positive mental health and a lobbying for better mental health services for young people.

North Down Page McLaughlin, 17, Member of Youth Parliament This month I took part in suicide awareness day in the Stormont buildings and surrounding grounds.

I met some local ministers and inquired about their feelings towards youth unemployment, which is one of the issues on the ballot that I feel passionate about. I made the ministers aware that UKYP had put this on their ballot. I decided this would be a great opportunity to represent UKYP and thought that this would be a chance to get some ballots filled in so took all my ballots along. This ended up being a great success as it enabled me to not only get ballots filled in but also to inform members of the young Northern Irish public about what UKYP do and how myself and my other MYPs will be representing them in the House of Commons and have been representing them at the annual sitting.

I have also represented Translink Youth Forum in the Translink advertising and promotional campaign for the release of their new Youth card which was designed by Translink Youth Forum and helped by the Northern Ireland Youth Forum. Photographs of this press release were in some local newspapers.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Scotland Aberdeen Andrew Deans, 19, UK Young Ambassador Between the 11th and 14th of September, young people and representatives from youth ministries from across Europe gathered in the Cypriot capital of Nicosia for the biannual EU Youth Conference with Nathan, Tamanna and myself from the UK Young Ambassadors forming part of the British delegation.

Every conference has a different theme and on this occasion the focus of the event was young people and migration. In the months before, each country had undertaken a consultation of young people and in the UK over 1000 people took part. We asked for their views and feelings on the extent of migration in their community, the barriers they felt young migrants faced and how these barriers could be removed.

After collecting our security badges, checking into our hotel and catching up on some much needed sleep, the conference kicked off.

The first day of the conference took place at the historical Famagusta gate in the Old Town of Nicosia. The morning was spent meeting as many delegates as we possibly could, before an official welcome including speeches from Ms Androulla Vassiliou, the European Commissioner for Education and Youth, and Peter Matjasic, President of the European Youth Forum.

Then the real work began. The object of the conference was to produce fourteen recommendations of action based on what young people from across Europe had said. These would be addressed to member states of the EU and hopefully adopted.

The reports of all the countries, as well as some from international youth organisations, had been summarised into 52 recommendations across 7 sub-topics.

We broke off into the seven workshops to explore the recommendations from each country’s consultation and reports and to discuss some of the key issues. The workshop I had chosen was titled ‘Youth Participation in Democratic and Social Life’, and it focussed on improving the ability of all young people, particularly migrant young people, to participate in decision-making processes.

Over the next few days and after lots of debate, we had to agree our two priorities for each subtopic. Once we had our priorities, we then had to draft the recommendation. I chose to work on the recommendation covering rights for political participation, as the right to vote for migrant young people, asylum seekers and refugees had been a key request from young people in our consultation.

There was much discussion within the group about how far to go with our recommendation, but we

Youth Voice: Positive Stories ended up with something strong: a recommendation that long-term residents of every EU country should be allowed to vote in all elections.

After this, all the delegates got the opportunity to view the proposed recommendations from each workshop and comment on them. Once the feedback was discussed, the 14 final priorities were then presented to the conference and agreed upon.

The conference itself was a fantastic experience. In the four years I have been involved in youth participation, I have never attended an event with such a fantastic mix of people and cultures, where young people and ministerial representatives worked together to address issues which transcend our own national borders. I made friends from Macedonia to Malta, Lithuania to Luxembourg and everywhere in between.

Notwithstanding that, however, the experience taught me one important lesson - that behind our different languages, nationalities and geography, we all have similar ideas about how to make Europe a better place for young people, and that young people from 27 countries represent a much louder voice together than we do individually. We now look to use that voice to see those ideas transformed into reality.

Virag Erdei, 18, Youth Councillor Grade A (Get Real About Drugs Education Aberdeen) received two awards at this year’s The Children and Young People's Services Awards. The group received an award under the 'Healthy Living' category and another special award, 'The Community Learning Award'. The group is a drugs awareness peer education group that was set up in August 2010. Originally Aberdeen City Youth Councillors made up the group but eventually some of them left and other non-YC people got involved. These two awards marked a milestone in the group’s history. Right now Grade A is developing a phone application for Apple devices and Androids. The launch of the app will take place in November.

Grade A is also taking part in Take One Action! This project equips a group of people to screen a movie that deals with a global issue. The screening in Aberdeen will take place at The Belmont cinema. The group is hoping to get many members of the public along as well as many young people.

The movie that Grade A will screen is called ‘Blood in the Mobile’.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Glasgow Kyle Thornton, 18, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament and Chair of the Glasgow Youth Council This month, the Glasgow Youth Council launched its search to recruit 21 new Glasgow Youth Council Members. GYC is currently composed of the 16 Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament for Glasgow but it will be expanded to bring in representatives from the Education Sector, the Youth & Area Organisations Sector and General Representatives. Anybody, 14-25 in the City is able to apply to be a member and we're pleased to have received lots of applications so far! In my constituency, Glasgow Southside, I've been continuing to be out and about visiting youth clubs and I've got some very exciting school visits planned which will give the young people in my area the chance to tell me what issues are important to them. I'll be in Holyrood Secondary in the next month or so and hopefully then onto Bellahouston Academy and Shawlands Academy after. I'll also be campaigning on the Scottish Youth Parliament's One Fair Wage campaign which aims to see people paid the Scottish Living Wage as a minimum, regardless of age.

Already, organisations in Southside like the Govan Law Centre and politicians have backed our campaign and I will be focusing on getting business on board! I'm also proud to have helped secure extra funding for youth programs in Southside through sitting on the Community Planning Partnership Board. A cool ÂŁ30,000 will be invested in projects that are fun and give skills.

North Lanarkshire June Ford, support worker North Lanarkshire Council attended the Festival of Politics in the Scottish Parliament and really enjoyed sharing their ideas with young people from other Youth Forums. They took part in debates within the chambers on votes at 16 years and equal marriage to name a few. For the first time, NLYC members attended the BYC AGC in Cardiff. This was a fantastic experience and since then the young people have continued to contribute the on line consultations.

NLYC is also moving forward on their campaign to promote positive images of young people in North Lanarkshire and challenge age discrimination. They are currently gathering support for this through funding applications such as Truth About Youth and O2 Think Big. This month will conclude with NLYC reps at a local Youth Conference in Bellshill facilitating a workshop on their campaign and attending a Council wide consultation event on Equality.

Youth Voice: Positive Stories

Wales Blaenau Gwent Laura Beaton, Member of Youth Parliament The Benefits of Being Part of a Youth Forum When I first joined Blaenau Gwent’s ‘Talk it up!’ Youth Forum in 2007, I was greatly unaware of how beneficial the youth forum would be to a number of aspects of my life. As a young person coming from a single parent family, I strongly believe that the youth forum has provided me with a wealth of life experiences and skills that I otherwise would not have been fortunate enough to have gained had I not joined.

So what has the youth forum given to me that have made me the person that I am today? Firstly, the youth forum has taught me that children and young people of all ages and backgrounds are able to make a difference in their local area. I will admit that when I first joined the youth forum I found the prospect of public speaking and debating incredibly daunting, however, my participation in the monthly meetings soon helped diminish any self-confidence issues I held. In November 2008 I was bestowed the privilege of becoming the Youth Mayor of Blaenau Gwent a honour I will cherish forever.

My newly gained skills and confidence inspired me to study law at University and, ultimately, train as a barrister. I strongly believe that my non formal learning experiences gained as a member of the youth forum hugely helped me both academically and socially and without such opportunities positive outcomes for young people would be greatly reduced.

Over the past 5 years I have been incredibly fortunate to travel to Poland, The European Parliament in Brussels and China, all of which are destinations which have required me to speak publically and grow in confidence in terms of voicing my opinions and networking with a diverse range of people and cultures. Had I not been given the opportunity by the youth forum to travel to the European Parliament I would not have been interested or motivated to then participate at the Model European Union in Strasbourg in 2010. Model European Union is a large scale political simulation in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, to which 180 young people participate from 27 EU Member States. The selection process to participate in Model European Union is extremely difficult, with over 900 applications being received by the organisation each year with only 180 places being offered.

Similarly, the selection process for the UK-China 400 trip run by the British Council was also challenging, with only 100 places being offered each year, both trips of which I was extremely fortunate to be offered a place.

I am exceedingly grateful to the youth forum for the experiences they have provided me with as I truly believe that I would have not been chosen to participate in Model European Union or UK-China 400 had it not been for the wealth of political and public speaking experience I had gained during my

Youth Voice: Positive Stories time as youth mayor and as part of an inspiring youth forum. Additionally, I have built lasting friendships and contacts both locally and internationally and experienced cultures and environments that I never thought possible.

It is remarkable to reflect that such experience has stemmed from being part of a local youth forum, especially in an area where sadly aspirations and employment opportunities are considerably low. I would like to emphasise that the opportunities I have been given are priceless, and have been highly acclaimed and advantageous when I have sought work experience or employment due to their rare value. For this reason, the youth forum is vital for children and young people across the borough as there are a number of youth forum members that have yet to experience life outside Blaenau Gwent, it is more crucial than ever that educational opportunities are given outside the classroom.

There is considerable emphasis on being ‘taught’ life lessons where in actual fact the best lessons in life are gained through experience and encouragement, both of which I have been given through being a youth forum member.

Sophie Larson, Member of Youth Parliament Article of Internship Politics is at the heart of human life. The changing dynamics and the affects of politics can be noted in all elements of society. As a carer to my autistic brother and a volunteer for a disabled swimming charity I have always been aware of disability discrimination. I believe such a complex issue can only be overcome by changing laws and altering attitudes. The desire to make a difference has fuelled my aspiration to study politics in university and then embark on a career within politics.

I’m currently studying A-levels in geography, history, religious studies and sociology at Brynmawr Foundation School. Eager to enhance my university application I was fortunate firstly to discover the internship set up by the Social Mobility Foundation and then be accepted as one of their sixty interns. The aim of the internship is to promote social mobility and increase civil service diversity by targeting under-represented groups.

This August I travelled from Tredegar and spent a two week period living in London with the other interns. At first I was slightly apprehensive of what my fellow applicants would be like expecting them to be the stereotypical public school types. My fears mounted when I was informed I would be the only Welsh applicant but upon meeting the others I realised I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Everyone was genuinely lovely and welcoming. Many held different faiths and nationalities and came from diverse backgrounds and so understanding different cultures proved very enriching.

Everyone had a unique story and I am still in contact with many of the people I met and now consider them to be close friends.

All of us selected were split across different government departments in Whitehall. I was placed in the Cabinet Office which provided firsthand experience of the work civil servants do in order to support ministers.

My time was spent managing my own project for returning Cabinet Office colleagues, attending policy meetings and workshops, assisting my line manager and finally shadowing both directors and director generals. Such jobs improved my communication skills and understanding of how large projects are perceived and managed. Spending time within N10 Communications observing emails sent to the Prime Minister from the serious to the weird was highly amusing and insightful. Finally

Youth Voice: Positive Stories meeting influential people, such as, Baroness Warsi, gaining a letter of recommendation from Nick Clegg and having a tour of Number Ten was incredible and astonishing.

My opportunity proved to be amazing and having work experience in a prestigious institution will no doubt prove beneficial when applying for university and jobs. My experience was funded entirely by the civil service and Social Mobility Foundation and this included many evening activities, such as, a ride on the London eye, boat ride on the Themes and a West End show.

Overall my experience was enjoyable and inspirational. I would strongly recommend to everyone, especially those interested in politics, to apply next year.

Caerphilly (Caerffili) Joel Price, 16, Youth Councillor So this month the Caerphilly youth forum have launched our "no smoking in play area" campaign, and launched our posters which will be displayed around local schools, youth clubs, leisure centres, libraries etc. We have had an outstanding response to this and everyone is behind it!

Four of our members: Me (Joel), Lewis, Johnny and Geraint went to our twinned city Ludwigsburg in Germany. We went for the It's Our Europe conference on participation in Europe. We discussed things like the debt crisis, the environment, migration and immigration! My topic was environment, we talked about renewable energy and how we can re-use things instead of cycling things out. We talked about how other European countries follow Wales with the 5p per plastic bag law. And how in Germany they have a refund system: if you take bottles and glass back to the shop you get money back for that item.

The last night I was chosen to address over 1200 people from politicians, young people to even a former prime minister. I talked about how the youth of Europe want a European youth parliament.

The responses were amazing to what I said, and to represent Caerphilly was the proudest moment of my life.

Later this month, Caerphilly youth forum will be having out borough wide meeting we're talking about the UKYP and getting people to fill in the ballots, having a Q&A with newly elected councillors and much more.

This month has been a very successful month for me and for my county! And I have really excelled in what I do, making sure the youth of Caerphilly are listened to.