4. What is the Commission doing to encourage young people to visit the Assembly? OAQ52731

Thank you. Well, we engage with over 20,000 young people each year, half of which engage with us on the estate. Youth groups, colleges and schools are all invited to take part in sessions in Siambr Hywel, and we also travel to schools—that should be more convenient for them. The range of services offered to young people is actually advertised on the website as well—so, I'm just giving that a plug now so that more people know about it—as well as across social media channels, the education and engagement team's youth letter, through the Dysg newsletter, and through the Hwb learning platform.

Thank you. A few weeks ago, to mark the centenary of women's suffrage, over 100 brownies and guides from across Gwent, aged between seven and 14, spent two consecutive Saturdays in the Senedd at the Senedd takeover. It was a full day of activities and my colleagues Lynne Neagle, Julie Morgan and I were really impressed with the girls' enthusiasm and ideas. There was even a special badge designed for the occasion. It was the first time that many of them had visited the Senedd, and it was a fantastic opportunity for them to learn more about the history of women's suffrage in Wales. We also recruited voters, and, hopefully, some potential candidates, for the Youth Parliament. A lot of hard work by Assembly staff and Girlguiding Gwent went into planning this activity on a Saturday, so can the Commissioner set out what is being done to attract organisations working with young people to hold innovative events such as this in the Senedd?

Thank you for that contribution. I'm hoping that the members of staff hear the congratulations that you've offered them, because the girl guides and brownies that you were talking about obviously had an amazing experience, and, if we can compare what their experience was like with those who came in during the Eisteddfod, where understanding of what happens in this place grew really quite significantly, then I hope the same is true for your visitors.

You mentioned the Youth Parliament. Obviously, brownies and girl guides are one of the groups that have been targeted, if that's the right word, to help find candidates for the Youth Parliament. You'll remember that, outside the 40 constituencies, there are 20 seats that will be taken by members of youth groups, and actually Girlguiding Cymru's got an exceptional record. It was here, or engaged with the Assembly, 11 times last year, and that was away from this estate, so I think, as an organisation, it's absolutely right that they're the people who should be taking part in our Youth Parliament.

Did they know about the travel subsidy that they can get to come here? Maybe you don't know the answer to that, but that's one of the main tools that you would use for getting people to come here, rather than our education and outreach service going out. But, apart from the things I've already mentioned, our outreach team does still go out, though there'll be questions about where the balance lies now between that work and the work on the Youth Parliament, because, obviously, we have a set number of staff and the Youth Parliament has obviously been a priority for the Assembly, as we found out in votes on this—well, almost two years ago now, I think.