Worcestershire Children’s Trust is inviting young people to play a part in continuing to make sure Worcestershire is the best place for children and young people to grow up.

All aims and priorities relating to delivering services for children and young people in Worcestershire are currently guided by a document called the Children and Young People’s Plan (CYPP).

The Children’s Trust is currently working with its partners on producing a new plan and is calling for Worcestershire residents to help shape the future vision by sharing their views via Worcestershire County Council’s website.

Councillor Marcus Hart, Chair of the Worcestershire Children’s Trust, said: “The Trust believes everybody’s voice is important and is therefore asking as many people in Worcestershire to feed back on the outcomes of the current plan and help shape the new plan.

“We will be consulting with a wide range of people, including children and young people, parents and carers, County Councillors, professionals and teachers using a wide range of methods. We would encourage as many people as possible to get involved in this valuable piece of work.”

The CYPP is a single plan that sets out what all agencies working with children and young people will do to make lives better for children, young people and their families.

One of the main ways in which people can get involved in the consultation is by completing this short general questionnaire, http://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/researchweb/cypp/vp_cypp.htm, which will be available until 20th September.
And young people are invited to provide a more detailed view via this additional questionnaire https://www.worcestershire.gov.uk/researchweb/cypp/2010.htm

The consultation is being carried out between August and October. Events have been organised throughout this period for children, children, young people, parents, carers and stakeholders, in addition to the two questionnaires.

People interested in finding out more about the Children’s Trust and the CYPP should visit http://www.worcestershirepartnership.org.uk/cms/theme-groups/childrens-and-young-people/2011-to-2014-consultation.aspx

Alternatively, people can email Rachel Adams on radams2@worcestershire.gov.uk or call 07595 091200.

Alex, Elise and Robert along with over 300 Members of Youth Parliament from across the UK gathered in Belfast at the end of July. For the first time in its history, the UK Youth Parliament held its annual sitting in Northern Ireland. The four day event saw debates on the environment, health, crime and education. Other issues included lowering the voting age to 16, and transport provision for young people. 

As part of the sitting, Alex, Elise and Robert Visited Stormont and were addressed by Francie Molloy, Deputy Speaker of the Northern Ireland Assembly, and 15 year-old Member of Youth Parliament, Aaron Meredith, from South Belfast. During the weekend the Members of Youth Parliament were also addressed by a number of high profile speakers, including the Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow, the Minister for Energy and Climate Change, Charles Hendry, and Robin Newton, Junior Minister within the Office of First and Deputy First Minister in Northern Ireland.

Alex, Elise and Robert did their best to make sure that the views of young people from all over Worcestershire were fed into all of the debates and manifesto groups. They have come away with some great ideas on how to carry their work forward and make some positive changes.

After visiting Stormont everyone had a coach tour of Belfast and learnt a bit about the history and the politics of Belfast, they saw the Peace Wall and visited other places of interest.

The Worcestershire Youth Cabinet and Members of Youth Parliament are all very excited about the fact they now have their very own office and meeting space at Worcester City Youth Centre. The office will be used for smaller meetings and ongoing campaign work.

Two Members of the Youth Parliament (MYPs) from Worcestershire will be attending the UK Youth Parliament Annual Sitting in Belfast.

MYPs Elise Hollins, who represents Bromsgrove and Wyre Forest; Robert Reitz, who represents Redditch and Wychavon and Alex White, who represents Worcester District and is Chair of the Worcestershire Youth Cabinet.

The Annual Sitting, which takes place July 23-26 at Ulster University in Belfast, will see MYPs from across the UK come together to take part in workshops and debates, they will also look at developing the UK Youth Parliament’s campaigns for the year ahead and bringing the issues of local young people to a national stage. This will be the first time the Sitting has taken place in Northern Ireland.

Young people who would like to raise any issues they would like to be taken forward to the Annual Sitting should contact their MYP via Kirsty Fraser, Worcestershire County Council’s Youth Voice Development Worker, on 01905 827489, email kfraser@worcestershire.gov.uk or youthcabinet@worcestershire.gov.uk.

For more information about the Youth Parliament, visit www.ukyouthparliament.org.

Today, Monday 12th April, 2010, me and Alex went to Bromsgrove to take part in a politics discussion for BBC radio 5 live. Politicians had representatives from each of the leading parties and a representative from scottish parliament. Many issues were raised in the debate, such as, the expences scandals, lowering the voting age and how to restore trust in politicians. There were 200 people there all who wanted to get across their views and ask their questions about what they were passionate about when it comes to politics.I througholy enjoyed the debate as it opened my eyes to a lot of issues surrounding politics. I also felt that through out the debate it became more apparent that young people have a more optimistic outlook on politics. Views that were raised, particularly surrounding the voting age, I think would be appropriate to raise in cabinet meetings to see if there are improvements that can be made by the Worcestershire Youth Cabinet. To conclued, the debate was very enjoyful, I learnt alot and feel some of the things said could benefit the youth cabinet.

from,
Miss Tayla-Anne Granner of Kidderminster Town, Worcestershire.

Youth Cabinet Meeting 26th August.
An idea for the Youth Cabinet to split into smaller groups based on the areas covered in the Worcestershire Youth Manifesto was proposed.  The various sub-groups are: Move On, Voice & Society Be Healthy, Enjoy & Achieve, Stay Safe, Publicity and Policy.

Vote For Chair, Vice Chair & Secretary
In Previous meetings it was decided that we should have roles. These would be the Chair who would manage the agenda and lead meetings, Vice Chair who would assist the chair, and the Secretary who would make notes during meetings, help set agendas and send out information to the Youth cabinet. Voting took place to elect people to these roles:  Alex White was elected as Chairperson, Jordan Merry was elected and Vice Chair and Jasmin Quelch was elected as Secretary.

Guest Speakers
We had the leader of the Council & Chairman of the Cabinet Dr  George Lord join us for a short time during our meeting to explain to what he does and what the county council are responsible. Liz Eyre Cabinet Member for Children & Young People(12-19 years) and Marcus Hart Cabinet Member for Children and Young People ( 0-11 years), spoke to us about the roles within the Cabinet and Liz Eyre also discussed with use how we could get involve in looking at the Forward Plans

Anti Bullying
Hannah Cridford the Anti Bullying co-ordinator told us about the work she does in schools. She is working on a model policy to tackle bullying in schools, and asked for the Cabinet to feed back on the policy. We were also invited to take part in the interviews for the new post of Anti Bullying Mentoring co-ordinator.
Since this meeting some of us have taken part in putting together interview questions for this post and taken part in the interview process.

Worcestershire UK Youth Parliament members to debate issues

Members of the Worcestershire’s UK Youth Parliament are clearing their throats ready for their live televised debate when they will be discussing issues volunteered by some of the county’s youngsters.

On Friday, October 30, Worcestershire’s elected Members of the UK Youth Parliament (MYPs) will make history when they sit on the green benches in the House of Commons and debate the issues that matter to young people from across the UK.

Over the last couple of months young Worcestershire residents have been asked to put forward their ideas for what the elected members should debate, with every issue added to a debate list and then voted for.

The debate has been organised by United Kingdom Youth Parliament and supported locally by Worcestershire County Council, the Participation and Engagement Team and Youth Support.

The event is being televised live by The BBC and so will see those issues proposed by the county’s youngsters beamed around the world.

Cllr Liz Eyre, Worcestershire County Council’s Cabinet Member for Children and Young People (aged 12-19 years), said: “What a fantastic opportunity this will be for our young people to have their say, improve their debating skills and show just how capable and able they are to make a positive contribution within society. Worcestershire residents should be so proud that they are representing us at such a prestigious event.”

Kirsty Fraser, Worcestershire County Council’s Youth Voice Development Worker, said: “This will be a great event which will really help put Worcestershire young peoples’ views and ideas on the agenda. The members will be passionately debating issues raised by their contemporaries around the county and I’m sure will represent Worcestershire with distinction on the day.”

For further details on the debate call Kirsty Fraser on 01905 827489 or e-mail kfraser@worcestershire.gov.uk.

Money 4 Young People, Assessed by Young people.

Latest News

As usual we have had a great response for applications for FLOSS money this year, with 223 groups across the County applying to receive grants. The young assessors will be interviewing everyone who have applied, and successful bidders will be notified by the end of June.

So You Don’t Know about FLOSS????

FLOSS- Funding Lots Of Supper Stuff (Youth Opportunity Fund) is different to other funding because it is Money 4 Young People, Assessed by Young people.

FLOSS has been given £266,000 this year to spend on Young People’s Groups in Worcestershire

So if you are part of a young people’s group aged 13-19

And

You have lots of ideas about things you would like to do

And

Could spend up to £2,500

Why not contact us to find out more

You can talk to us on

01905 827489

or e-mail us on

floss@worcestershire.gov.uk

Poppy & Alpha who are Young Assessors say:

“If you have a good idea about something you want to do in your area you should apply for FLOSS because it can really help you make a difference and also encouges a positive image towards young people”

INTERESTED IN BECOMING A YOUNG FLOSS ASSESSOR?

If you are between the ages of 11-19 and are interested in becoming a Young Assessor in your local area, then contact us on one of the numbers below- and we will tell you all about our training and give you the opportunity to come and meet with your local Young Assessor group and find out what it’s all about:

Redditch  contact:     01527  61717

Kidderminster contact: 01562 752711

Worcester  contact: 01905 721811

Malvern  contact : 01684 893437  or  01584 81900

Wychavon  contact: 01905 827269