Warwickshire Youth Parliament

Warwickshire Youth Parliament

Run by young people, the UK Youth Parliament provides opportunities for 11-18 year old's to use their voice in a creative way to bring about social change. This year eight young people will be elected as either Members of Youth Parliament (MYP) or Deputy Members of Youth Parliament, to act on behalf of the young people across Warwickshire at a regional and national level. This includes an opportunity to sit and debate with their fellow MYP’s across the country in the House of Commons.

Alongside this group, another 15 young people from Warwickshire (three per district) will be elected to represent young people in their local district or borough as part of VOX – Warwickshire Youth Council.

Both groups of young people will have a one year term of office, meeting on a monthly basis. They will also have the chance to be involved in local forums and a variety of other opportunities, such as interviews, meeting key decision makers across the county, being consulted by a variety of organisations.

Are there are any young people in your school or college who would be a suitable candidate in the forthcoming elections? Anyone aged between 11 and 18 (or up to 25 for young people with disabilities) is eligible for election. Look out for more information and promotional material giving details of how young people and schools can get involved.

Some key dates to keep in mind:

Nominations for both elections closes on 2 December 2016 (28 of November for web applications).
Elections are held for two weeks starting on Monday 23 January until Friday 3 February 2017, with the results being announced on Thursday 9 February 2017 at Shire Hall Warwick.

For more information please contact your local youth worker or Cheryl Jones on cheryljones@warwickshire.gov.uk.

Warwickshire Youth Parliament’s work on mental health

One of this year’s national campaigns focused on mental health, with the aim of changing attitudes to generate and increase equality.  Last year’s campaign particularly focused on raising awareness of mental health illnesses, and how services need to be improved for young people.

Warwickshire Youth Parliament have achieved this in a number of ways:

• Packs produced for schools including leaflets for students & teachers
• Fundraising for Warwickshire based charities such as Safeline

• Local forums around Warwickshire took part in the youth consultations with Young Minds
• CAMHS commissioners met with Nuneaton and Atherstone forums
• The main issues raised by young people were:
  • Services are not well advertised
  • Readily available information is vital to allow people to gain awareness and know who to turn to before a problem requires emergency intervention
  • Waiting lists are too long
  • Lack of helplines and early intervention
  • Transition from child to adult services is difficult

One of the top issues voted in the UK Youth Parliament’s annual ‘Make Your Mark’ ballot last year was mental health, with over 90,349 young people voting for it nationally. The ballot decides what members of the UK Youth Parliament should debate and vote on their campaigns for the following year. This year’s debate will take place on Friday 11 November 2016 within the House of Commons.

For the 2015 National Sitting, the UK Youth Parliament collected information about gaps in mental health care provision across the country.  This resulted in the Youth Select Committee publishing the Young People's Mental Health Report 2015 on Tuesday 17 November 2015.

The Government’s response published in January 2016 highlighted 18 recommendations.

If you would like copies of our newly published leaflets for students or teachers about mental health, please contact cheryljones@warwickshire.gov.uk or please visit our website.