Press Release
Scottish Youth Parliament Sitting
The last Scottish Youth Parliament Sitting, hosted by North Lanarkshire Council, was held recently in St. Andrews High School in Coatbridge. Nicole Mouat, Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYP) for Shetland attended this Sitting, along with Emily Shaw, Chairperson of Shetland Youth Voice.
The theme of this Sitting was ‘Young People and Money’ and throughout the weekend MSYP’s discussed how the recession has affected young people. Highlights of the weekend included workshops from YoungScot and Cashback for Communities, and debates surrounding careers advice and opportunities, student poverty, wages and young people’s rights in the workplace. MSYP’s discussed a proposed change to the SYP’s governing documents, and this led to some excellent fierce debate amongst the young people.
Sunday saw no less than four Member’s Motions for MSYP’s to debate. These motions looked at banning Mosquito Devices, introducing compulsory political education in schools, exam leave for prelims, and more support and help for young carers. MSYP’s also had the opportunity to discuss the forthcoming plan for the new SYP Manifesto. Work for this will begin in April with the launch of the new Manifesto planned for March 2011.
Nicole Mouat and Emily Shaw said, “We both enjoyed the weekend immensely and have learnt a lot to take back to the young people in Shetland. Many of the debates at the sitting were relevant to our community and we cannot wait to raise these issues with Shetland's young people."
The SYP Awards took place on Saturday evening at the Sitting, and Avril Nicol, Youth Services Manager is delighted that Martin Summers received a Special Commendation for Support Worker of the Year for all his hard work during his time supporting Member’s of the Youth Parliament. The Award was presented by Louise MacDonald, Chief Executive of YoungScot. From 2009-2010, some of the work Martin supported included holding MSYP Elections, accompanied MSYP’s to national Sittings throughout Scotland, accompanied one of our MSYP’s to Norway for an International Democracy Project, and various community projects in Shetland.
If you would like more information about the Sitting or the Scottish Youth Parliament please email Nicole on nicole.mouat.msyp@sypmail.org.uk.