Youth Select Committee chair: Why young people's voices matter now more than ever
4 min read
As the Youth Select Committee prepare to launch their report into barriers to work experience, it is clear the youth voice is needed now more than ever, writes Claudia Quinn
Earlier this year, I was offered the opportunity to Chair the UK Parliament’s Youth Select Committee inquiry into barriers to work experience. The Committee is an initiative run by the British Youth Council with the support of the House of Commons. Every year different Youth Members – aged 18 and under – meet to launch an inquiry into key issues voted for by young people. It is a surreal experience to go from being a year 12 student learning about History and Politics to working in the heart of Parliament, but a circumstance I relished none the less. Youth unemployment and the barriers young people face in achieving experience and knowledge of the workplace are among the greatest issues facing today’s youth. Experts in the House of Commons Library released a briefing last month showing almost half a million young people aged 16-24 were unemployed.
Is it any wonder young people are perceived as disenfranchised when the main issues affecting them are neglected in society and policy? What solution can we offer to make the younger generation heard in politics and engage those who cannot vote in policy making? This is where Make Your Mark comes in. The British Youth Council’s Make Your Mark ballot is the largest annual consultation of young people in the UK and represents an excellent opportunity to capture the thoughts and ideas of our country’s future. But there is still much more that must be done to engage young people in politics.
The Make Your Mark ballot was the basis for the Youth Select Committee investigating barriers to work experience earlier this year. During the inquiry, our panel of 11 young adults from across the country considered the importance of work experience and how it has been neglected – interviewing witnesses from politicians and academics to charity providers and business leaders.
The inquiry revealed just how much change is needed. Our concerns were underpinned by the refusal of BEIS to give evidence on the enquiry and the absence of work experience from the newly redesigned National Careers Service website. This website is the key portal for careers information in England, but it will omit information for interested younger audiences eager to gain experience in their desired career paths.
Glaring inequalities in access to work experience can provide a lens to how inequality manifests itself at a young age and persists as young people grow up and move into work. But it doesn’t have to be this way: instead of reproducing inequality, work experience has the potential to provide the means to alleviate it. For instance, work-related learning at a primary-school age could be utilised to challenge stereotypes about who does what kind of work at an early age that they develop. Ambitious programmes in secondary schools and colleges can prompt young people to consider careers they might have never considered or thought out of reach. For disabled people, this is especially important, given the disturbing gap between those in work and those who want to be in work.
If my work with the European Youth Parliament has taught me anything, it’s that there is a crucial role for young people in forming policy, both on work experience and more generally. Even for those too young to vote, this would show that today’s youth can have an active voice and deserve their place in Politics. The promising momentum of the ‘youthquake’ that has seen young people active in change makes the Youth Select Committee so vital - now more than ever.
On November 14, the Youth Select Committee launch their report into work experience just days after UK Youth Parliament debate four more crucial motions on topics affecting young people today in the House of Commons Chamber.
It’s time to see what young people can achieve and how we can change politics for the better.
Claudia Quinn, Chair of the Youth Select Committee
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