Minutes:
For years young people have felt disengaged with politicians and the political structure for various reasons, one being they don’t see the point of getting involved with politics. You will also hear regular comments such as “Why should I bother voting?” At the end of the day, regardless of what people think of politicians, they have the power to make decisions which affect everyone, both positively and negatively. Today I would like to ask the Portfolio Holder what can we do to make sure young people feel engaged in the political process, and to help change the negative viewpoint many young people may hold about politics?
Councillor Wicks stated that the current population in Medway was now 265,000, of which 69,000 were young people aged 19 or under. This was a significant part of the population so it was important that the Council engaged with them. He stated the need to draw a distinction between party politics and political understanding and engagement as it would not be appropriate for the council to invest in the development of party politics among young people. However there was a wide range of activity which was helping young people develop their sense of awareness and belonging, involvement in community and society, in civil organising and in expressing their voice.
He reported that Medway Council had been very successful over recent years in encouraging, supporting and funding youth groups such as, Medway Youth Parliament (MYP), Medway Young Commissioners and Medway Young Inspectors. The last external assessment had demonstrated that these services were of a high quality and impact (Ofsted on MYP in 2006).The Youth Parliament had a full Parliament, it had a Cabinet and operated through a committee structure. It was important to note that their members participated in the UK Youth Parliament, which now for the first time had started to have an annual meeting in the House of Commons, which was very significant and worthwhile.
These participation groups all provided young people with a voice and an opportunity to be listened to and to change and influence their local community.
Democracy was also encouraged in Medway’s 17 mainstream secondary schools and in some primary schools as well through the development of school councils. It was the intention that every young person in these schools would be able to have their voice heard by decision makers in Medway.
Medway Youth Trust (previously Connexions) had a very active young people’s forum that was involved in all levels of decision making within the trust and the trust itself planned to go for a gold in an award called ‘Hear by Rights’ in the next twelve months.
The Medway Youth Service also had a key aim of ensuring that young people fully participated in the decisions that the service took with regard to the activities offered, the management of the service and also the quality assurance.
Councillor Wicks said that as far as possible these activities were all led by young people with young people being encouraged to take responsibility for the design and delivery of their own work. These participation programmes encouraged young people to have a greater involvement and voice in their own community and empathy with others.
By meeting in forums, inspecting services or being consulted on new developments, including by this Council, young people felt valued, were enthusiastic about supporting programmes of work or initiating change within their local area. This provided a stepping-stone to future local political involvement.
He also referred to the Medway Council Participation Strategy, which provided a framework that would ensure services were seeking the active involvement of children, young people, parents and so on.
In terms of the Council’s Member level meetings, young people had a voice through two Medway Youth Parliament representatives who were co-opted on to the Council’s Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee. The current representatives were Sam Tutt and Doyin Yahyi and they actively contributed to the debates at these meetings.
Medway, finally, remained committed to ensuring that the voice of young people was heard and that it continued to influence the services that were delivered on their behalf.
Jamie Morice-Jones stated that as with the Youth Parliament, there had been criticism over the years around the issue of representation. For example, when people were elected there had been a lot of incidents where teachers had told their pupils to vote for their school’s candidates.
He asked what other ways existed for people like himself, who did not attend large schools, to get involved with politics more?
Councillor Wicks encouraged him to come to meetings like this and take part. He also suggested that he contact Medway Youth Parliament to get involved with them.