5. Statement by the Llywydd: Update on the establishment of a Youth Parliament for Wales

Part of the debate – in the Senedd at 4:11 pm on 23 May 2018.

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Photo of Elin Jones Elin Jones Plaid Cymru 4:11, 23 May 2018

Thanks for your co-operation to date on this and the role that your committee has played, also, in advocating for this development. Thank you also for recognising the scale of what we have in front of us. This is an electronic register with an electronic vote for all 11 to 18-year-olds in Wales, and therefore the logistics of this is a significant venture for us as an Assembly. We need the support of all Assembly Members here to be part of the promotional activity around the registration to vote, and then hopefully inspiring young people as we come across them, or know of them, or partner organisations in our constituencies and regions, to be developing this idea in their areas so we become advocates for this in our various areas.

Our outreach work—our educational programme—is now geared up to working with schools, colleges and young people's organisations throughout Wales to be promoting the opportunities that are becoming available. But on the point that you make, Lynne, in terms of there will always be young articulate people in all our constituencies and regions who will see this and grab it and want to go for it straight away, we want this assembly—this young people's assembly and parliament—to be representative of all. Therefore, the 10 partner organisations that elect under-represented young people—people who don't traditionally have an obvious channel to find their way into this kind of opportunity—that we enable those young people to be elected to the first young parliament here in Wales.

Then, of course, when they're elected, 11 to 18-year-olds—young parliamentarians—do need to be supported in their work. That work will be in this Chamber. The intention at this point is to have three meetings over a two-year period in this Chamber, but that's not all the work that a young parliamentarian will be involved in. Much of that will be regionally working with other regionally elected Members, reporting back to young people in their areas and discussing policies with young people in their areas, and they will need to be supported in that work. So, very much of the focus of the educational and outreach work that this Assembly has done in the past that we're familiar with will now be prioritising the work of supporting the 60 young parliamentarians, but also their relationship with younger people more widely in their communities.

So, is it important that, as a result of this statement today, and the opening up of the registration as of next week, all of us become champions of the new youth parliament in Wales and hope that many people register and many people get interested in becoming members.