Dear Members

The latest round of elections has just taken place for the British Youth Council for Members of Youth Parliament. Three young people have been elected as Members and two as Deputies. They have been discussing how they would like to move forward in developing the voice of children in Cornwall and as such a Launch event has been planned for Saturday 30^th April at New County Hall in Truro.

Hearing from children, young people and practitioners it is clear that for children’s rights including participation to be promoted and embedded in normal culture in Cornwall there needs to be a join up of current good practice and further development to create a robust, representative and cohesive network. At this time there are a number of formal and informal youth voice groups – parish councils, community groups, statutory groups and school councils. Working in partnership with Action for Children who deliver the Councils 11+ youth provision, wider voluntary sector partners, schools, community and parishes we would like to create the opportunity for young people across Cornwall to connect together as part of a larger Youth Council. These young people could already be part of another youth voice group and therefore represent that group, or they could just want to get involved for the first time with an interest in sharing their own and their peers views. This will not only create stronger and more connected and representative voice of children in Cornwall, but also reduce duplication and develop mechanisms directly between young people and decision and policy makers in the County.

We are at the early stages of the formation of this new way of working and therefore very much need your help to reach out to young people aged 10 – 18 and up to 25yrs with SEND (or organisations who work with young people) to let them know about this opportunity and support them where needed to take part. Having worked in the Voluntary Sector and Local Authority in Cornwall for the last 18 years, I know there is so much excellent child and youth engagement taking place. This is an opportunity to enable the views, wishes and feelings of children and young people in Cornwall to be meaningfully heard and acted on in a more cohesive and embedded way.

Attached is the invite for the Youth Council launch event, please feel free to forward this to any formal or informal youth groups in your area – the deadline for young people expressing interest is Monday 18^th April. For further information about the event or discussion about the development of the Youth Council please contact Katherine Ennever (Katherine.ennever@cornwall.gov.uk) or Kate MacArthur, Action for Children Kate.MacArthur@actionforchildren.org.uk.