The British Youth Council are delighted to welcome new minister for Civil Society, Baroness Barran MBE, who will take on responsibility for youth policy at the Office for Civil Society following the departure of Mims Davies MP who has been in charge of the office since November 2018.
Commenting on the appointment of the new minister, Amanda Chetwynd-Cowieson, Chair, British Youth Council said: “The British Youth Council are looking forward to working with the new minister to ensure the Government remains committed to young people’s voices being heard on the issues they’re passionate about.
“It remains absolutely vital, during this time, that young people play a role in the Government decision making”
The youth-led charity is writing to welcome the Minister to the new role, however, it will also reiterate its concerns for the size of the brief which will include other responsibilities. It is the organisation’s longstanding belief, that the Government should appoint a Minister solely responsible for young people. Successive Governments have ignored cross-party support for the reintroduction of the role which has been vacant since 2010.
Lewis Addlington-Lee, Deputy Chair of the British Youth Council said: “Despite our best efforts to persuade successive Governments, we still don’t have a dedicated Youth Minister.
“Although this appears to be a smaller brief, we’ll be requesting further reassurances that the size of the brief, won’t result in young people’s priorities being ignored.”
We will also use this as an opportunity to highlight the most important issues facing young people living in the UK. In the lead up to the General Election, the British Youth Council highlighted the underfunding of youth services and the importance of ensuring young people have a meaningful opportunity to influence Brexit negotiations.
The British Youth Council have worked under various Government departments since 2011 to deliver it’s Youth Voice programme. The Youth Voice programme, which is currently supported by Department for Culture, Media and Sport, includes UK Youth Parliament and Youth Select Committee. The programme aims to give young people the opportunity to influence public decision-making at a local and national level.