Young people to meet with Dawn Butler MP

Five young people involved in the Youth4U Young Inspectors programme, run by Look Listen Change, a consortium hosted by NCB, will meet with Dawn Butler MP, Minister for Young Citizens and Youth Engagement tomorrow (Thursday, 18th March) at the House of Commons to discuss issues important to young people.

The meeting will reflect the Government’s aim to ensure that young people have more opportunities to engage with the issues they are passionate about, as part of its response to the Youth Citizenship Commissions report of June 2009. The report outlined how young people could be more engaged in their communities, in politics and with wider citizenship projects.

The young people have been recruited as young inspectors in Calderdale and will be representing Look Listen Change, which includes the British Youth Council (BYC), KIDS, the National Centre for Excellence in Residential Child Care (NCERCC) and the Council for Disabled Children (CDC). They will be amongst 70 young people from various organisations who have been invited to attend the event.

The event will be held at the House of Commons, Thursday 18th of March. The meeting will present an opportunity for young people to have their voice heard and make youth engagement a reality. The range of issues which will be discussed at the event include topics which affect young people such as votes at 16, registering to vote, citizenship education and the perception of young people in the media. The event will also provide an opportunity for the young people to directly engage with Government Ministers and Members of Parliament from a variety of political parties.

Mandy Douglas, Assistant Director Participation Programmes, NCB, said: “This meeting with Dawn Butler MP, will provide a fantastic opportunity for the young people involved to discuss issues which affect them, and for these issues to be heard at a policy level. Opportunities such as these reveal the importance of direct youth engagement and reflects the need to continue investing and developing more avenues to ensure children and young people’s voices are heard.”

Dawn Butler MP, said: “Young people have so many great ideas about how to improve our communities and it is important that they are given the chance to express their opinions about the decisions which affect them. This event is all about giving young people the opportunity to make their voices heard, knowing that someone is listening and help to shape the future of the country.”

For more information visit www.looklistenchange.org.uk call 020 7843 6085 or email enquiries@looklistenchange.org.uk