Young People's Engagement

Young people’s active engagement is important to ensure that young people have their say.

There are a number of different ways in which young people can have their voices heard and make a difference to the communities in which they live:

Executive Youth Board

Role and Function of Executive Youth Board (EYB)

The EYB acts as Wirral’s overarching young people’s group for consulting and engaging young people in strategic decision making.  As the Board develops young people will shadow elected members who make up Wirral’s Cabinet and ultimately become a Shadow Cabinet. Young people who become members of the EYB will be responsible for ensuring that they brief and consult children and young people on any proposed initiatives and policy development that may affect children and young people.

Work to be undertaken by the EYB:

• Plan the Youth Voice Conference and Youth Parliament
• Shadow Councillors and advise on matters affecting young people
• Shadow Chair of Overview and Scrutiny Committees and advise on matters affecting young people
• Work with the Council Officers to develop the Youth Offer
• Advise on the ongoing development of youth participation activities
• Agree a work plan for activities to be undertaken 
• Consult and feed back to young people of Wirral 

How much time will I have to give?
Being involved in the EYB will take up a considerable amount of your time. You will need to be able to attend an average of 1 or 2 three hour meetings a month. The meetings are always outside of school hours, usually evenings and sometimes at the weekend.

How do I get involved?
A new EYB is recruited in the summer. If a young person is interested, they register their interest by submission of a letter (to include young person’s experience of volunteering, why they want to be a member of the EYB, how they would contribute and what they would like to see as a result of their involvement). Involvement in the EYB is for a 2 year period to ensure continuity.

Work undertaken by the EYB so far:

• Planned Youth Voice Conference & Youth Parliament 2008 and 2009
• Meeting elected members
• Now regularly chair Youth and Play Service Advisory Committee (YAPSAC)
• Hosted United Kingdom Youth Parliament North West regional meetings
• North of England Education Conference workshops
• Meeting re: Strategic Asset Review
• Equality Impact assessment
• Meetings re: Community Safety, Response
• Training (chairing meetings and taking minutes)
• Attended a national Transport Conference in London
• Attending ‘Circles of Influence’ event, organised by the North West Regional Youth Work Unit (NWRYWU)and supported by Government Office North West (GONW)
• Attended DCSF (Department for Children, Schools and Families) event on ‘New Choices and Better Guidance for Young People’ at Old Trafford, meeting Ed Balls and Sir Alex Ferguson
• Attended consultation group with Police regarding Policing issues and knife crime in particular

Youth Voice Conference & Youth Parliament

2011 will see the 9^th Annual Youth Voice Conference and 6^th Youth Parliament held during Local Democracy Week on 11th October. The Youth Voice Conference starts at approximately 9.30am, with a series of workshops and then hotseating sessions and finishes at 3pm.  The Youth Parliament starts at approximately 5pm and finishes at 9pm. The Parliament starts with tea with Elected Members (Councillors), followed by group discussions and then culminates in an open debate in the Council Chamber. This is a scheduled full council meeting, where Elected Members give up their seats for young people.

How much time will I have to give?
This is a one day event; you may attend just the Conference (which is 9am - 3pm) or just the Parliament (which is 5pm - 9pm) or you could attend both which would be 9am - 9pm - the choice is yours.

How do I get involved?
Every Secondary school in Wirral is invited to bring young people to this event as well as local training providers and Youth Service projects. Speak to your citizenship/humanities teacher at school, your training provider or your Youth Worker.

United Kingdom Youth Parliament (UKYP)

The UK Youth Parliament has 600 elected MYPs (Members of Youth Parliament). Run by young people for young people, UKYP provides opportunities for 11-18 year-olds to use their voice in creative ways to bring about social change. Every local authority (LA) holds elections for this national body and Members of Youth Parliament (MYP) can be 11-16 years of age. Each LA has a different number of MYPs, based on population; Wirral has two, plus two deputies. Each year thousands of young people help decide the UK Youth Parliament’s campaign priorities. The current campaigns focus on reducing the cost of bus travel for young people, improving political education and abolishing university tuition fees.

How do I get involved?
Each year, Wirral elects two Deputies, who will hold their position for a TWO year period - the first year as a Deputy MYP and then the second year as MYP. This means that those young people who want to stand for election should be under the age of 18 on completion of a two year term. Once elected MYPs organise events and projects, run campaigns and influence decision makers on the issues which matter most to young people. All MYPs meet once a year at the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting.

Elections take place in February, and are advertised through all Secondary schools, training providers, Connexions and Youth Service. 

How much time will I have to give?
Being involved as a UKYP representative will take up a considerable amount of your time. When standing for election, you will need to prepare your speech, after which you will need approximately 2 hours to create your campaign soundbyte to encourage young people to vote for you on the website. You will need to spend some time canvassing for support during the election period.

If elected, you will need to be able to attend an average of 1 or 2 three hour meetings a month where you will meet with the other Wirral UKYP representatives to discuss campaign work. You also must be able to attend North West region forum meetings which are all day on a Sunday every other month. As a UKYP representative, you will be expected to attend your local Youth Forums to make sure you are gaining the views of other young people across the borough.

Each year, UKYP have a National Sitting, where all UKYP representatives from across the country go on a residential for 4 days.

There are also many opportunities for the UKYP representatives to attend national meetings and conferences.

Youth Forums

Youth Forums are meetings held in each District (see the table below), where young people can discus issues that are important to them. Any one or all of the young people’s decision making groups (EYB, Grant Panel, UKYP) will take any action needed either with the young people or on their behalf.

Once a year, the Youth Forums allocate £2,500 funding to projects for young people.

How much time will I have to give?
Youth Forum meetings take place once every other month, from 7pm to 9pm. If you decide to take some action from these meetings, then you may need to give more time.

How do I get involved?
Details of the meetings are advertised through schools, Youth Service Connexions, etc. IOr you can contact Wirral Youth and Play Service on (0151) 637 6370.

If you are aged 13 to 19 and have something to say, then come to the meeting. Transport can be provided if needed.

The District Youth Forums then inform a number of different young people’s decision making groups at local regional and national level. You can download a diagram to show how these groups work with other organisations and agencies to ensure that young people’s views are taken into account.