The Welsh Youth Parliament

Part of 3. Questions to the Senedd Commission – in the Senedd at 3:19 pm on 25 November 2020.

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Photo of Elin Jones Elin Jones Plaid Cymru 3:19, 25 November 2020

Well, it's been one of the highlights of my time as Llywydd to chair the events and the meetings of the Welsh Youth Parliament. They are inspiring young people who have wanted to represent their fellow young people and to make sure that the views of young people in Wales have an influence on us as a Senedd, and it's been an inspiring journey for them and, most definitely, for me as well. So, in planning for the future of that, we learn from the experience of the first Senedd, and we will put together a legacy report, as we do for many aspects of the work of the Senedd, to take forward into the next Senedd and into preparing to elect the next Youth Parliament in the autumn of next year.

As you say, the young people who are 60 Members of our Youth Parliament have experienced the pandemic, as all have, and they've had their own individual experiences of that. Our Commission staff, who have worked with them on the committees and in the Senedd in the Welsh Youth Parliament itself, have been very conscious of the fact that they come from different circumstances—each and every one of them—and they have been supported, as much as we can, in enabling them to carry on their work in whatever way they could as youth parliamentarians. Therefore, it's been an incredibly positive experience, and I hope it has been for the 60 Members who were elected. They were trailblazers and pioneers, and we will soon be electing our second Youth Parliament, and I think we've done a good job as a Senedd in supporting our young people in allowing them to have a voice, but in particular, as well, in listening to what they had to say.