Agenda item

The Slough Youth Parliament (SYP) had been in existence for 4 years, with the second cohort now approaching the end of their terms of office. There had been some initial scepticism regarding the body, but it had now become well established and respected. SYP was also part of the UK Youth Parliament, with an elected representative for Slough on the body.

The third set of elections would be held in January 2019, with schools to act as constituencies. It was very rare to hear of a shortage of candidates for any election, and the resulting election night was a popular and high profile event. Once elected, members were to act as representatives of Slough rather than their school, and the body also included co-opted members to represent other interest groups (e.g. children in care, LGBT).

The ‘Make Your Mark’ campaign was used to help create SYP’s manifesto. This was used to identify the top 5 local and national issues; Slough had the highest rate of involvement in 2017 in England, and whilst national statistics were not yet available the turnout in Slough had increased in 2018. The Slough Youth Awards would also been held for the third time in November 2018, whilst the Personal, Social and Health Education (PSHE) Network was involving schools in sharing best practice and improving curricula.

SYP had representatives on a range of bodies (e.g. Slough Wellbeing Board, Safer Slough Partnership) and these delegates received the necessary support to take an active role in discussions. Its work on challenging the stigma of mental health had also been appreciated by the Care Commissioning Group and Public Health. It had taken a prominent role in advocating for the ‘Votes At 16’ campaign; as a whole, this level of activity had made SYP a prominent body in the area across the country.

The Panel raised the following points in discussion:

·  The number of schools involved had increased from 12 to 20, whilst the number of boards on which SYP had representation had increased from 4 to 9. Future issues to build on this progress would be increasing the focus on the local issues identified by ‘Make Your Mark’ and embedding these in the Manifesto; this would increase the impact of SYP’s work and the degree of corporate support for the body.

·  The final priorities of SYP were set by those elected to it whilst attending a residential event. As well as ‘Make Your Mark’, the intelligence on priorities gathered during the election process was used but ultimately the final decision lay with the elected members.

·  As of yet, no one had graduated from SYP into local or national politics but the ages of those involved militated against this to some extent.

·  The body was strictly apolitical in terms of party alignment. Its Question Time events included representatives from a range of parties and candidates did not stand on party tickets.

·  Members requested that materials used in the January 2019 elections be circulated to the Panel outside of the meeting.

·  SYP included representatives of schools outside Slough with high numbers of local pupils (e.g. Churchmead, Khalsa). The rule was that all could vote, but representatives had to live in Slough (this stipulation also applied to Slough schools).

Resolved:  That the report be noted.