Young People
I was appointed to the newly created position of Shadow Minister for Young People in February 2002 and remained so until May 2005. It was the first time that a dedicated youth spokesman has occupied the frontbench. In July 2002, I maintained this position upon joining the Shadow Education and Skills team – a job that I believe is one of the best possible in British politics. I was also appointed Shadow Minister for Higher Education in February 2005.
My interest and involvement with young people is long-running. Between 1988 and 1998 I was a trustee of Drive for Youth, a youth training charity which specifically looked at providing training for the most disadvantaged young people. From 1992 to 1997 I was President of the British Youth Council. I am Vice-President (and founding patron) of The Big Issue Action – the charitable trust set up by The Big Issue. I am currently Vice-Chairman of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Youth Affairs, and a patron of the UK Youth Parliament.
During my appointment as Shadow Minister, I worked to ensure that young people’s views are incorporated into the policy process at all levels. As part of this, a range of initiatives have been launched to better young people’s access to the political process. Key programmes are detailed below.
The Youth Affairs Bulletin
In August 2002 I launched the ‘Youth Affairs Bulletin’; an apolitical, monthly consultation bulletin emailed to approx. 4000 youth organisations nationwide. Each bulletin provides organisations with news from Westminster, information about my visits to youth groups, and issue focused surveys (both for young people and the leaders of the organisations).
Youths Summits
Whilst I was Shadow Minister for Young People I organised and hosted a series of Parliamentary summits to address key issues affecting young people.
The first summit took place in May 2003 focussing upon the work of voluntary organisations for young people. Discussion focused upon some of the major problems facing the voluntary youth sector, such as funding, red-tape and how to improve Government support. Over 50 delegates from organisations across the country attended the event.
A second summit was held in March 2004 to look into difficulties and issues facing young gay men, lesbians and bisexuals, such as homophobic bullying, crime, sexual health matters. The event was attended by over 100 delegates and included speeches from the Assistant Deputy Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police, Brian Paddick, Television Dr David Bull and Lisa Power, Head of Policy & Public Affairs at the Terrence Higgins Trust.
I hosted a third summit on the subject of protecting young people from crime in January 2005. This event looked closely at ways of tackling the disproportionately high instances of crime against young people and the negative media representation that is often given to younger generations. It also addressed the issue of how we can help divert young people from becoming involved in crime and how to deal with young offenders.