The Welsh Youth Parliament

Part of 3. Questions to the Senedd Commission – in the Senedd at 3:18 pm on 25 November 2020.

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Photo of Helen Mary Jones Helen Mary Jones Plaid Cymru 3:18, 25 November 2020

Thank you so much for that answer. I think we must all be very proud of the young people and what they've achieved in these very difficult circumstances, and I think we'd all want to thank the staff very much who've been able to enable them to continue their work in exactly the same way, of course, that the staff of the Senedd have enabled us to continue our work. 

I have had some concerns, though, about the emotional well-being of the young Members. Their experience of being young Members of the Senedd won't have been what they expected. So can you confirm, Llywydd, that members of staff here have been in touch with those professionals—youth workers and others—supporting those young people just to make sure that they're okay? And further to that, as you said, the first term has come to an end, it's been incredibly productive, they've done a huge amount of work and I'm sure we'd all like to thank them. Can you tell us a bit more about what steps are in place to prepare for the next elections for our next young parliamentarians? That may potentially be done, of course, in a challenging time where schools and youth groups have got an awful lot on their plate that they wouldn't normally be having to deal with. So, I'm hoping that there is thought and planning going into how we can ensure that our next Youth Parliament is as effective as this one has been.