Youth Parliament: Government Support

I beg to move, That this House has considered Government support for the UK Youth Parliament. It is an honour to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I warmly welcome the Minister to her place for what I believe is her first Westminster Hall debate. Many colleagues have taken their seat in this place after years of serving their community as a local councillor or in a political role, but before my election I was a teacher and an academic. Standing for Parliament was almost the first time that I had run for anything; in fact, my only prior experience was running to be a Member of the Youth Parliament when I was about 14. I am sorry to say that I came third, although the confidence that I gained from putting myself forward stayed with me and, I have no doubt, helped me to reach this place.

The hon. Gentleman may have come third that time, but he came first in the last election—well done. The National Youth Agency does magnificent work in delivering the programme. These brilliant young minds need certainty and sustainable funding, not just allocations handed out year by year. Does the hon. Gentleman agree that equitable funding across the whole United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, including Strangford, would ensure that young voices are heard on the national stage with proper financial support to enable full participation, just as he himself achieved when he had the opportunity?

I thank the hon. Gentleman for making that point, to which I will return at the end of my speech. As we look to deliver better youth services and participation for all our young people, we certainly need to think about how to fund it properly. The UK Youth Parliament is an institution in which we can take great pride. It develops skills, provides opportunities to young people right across the country and helps them to have a voice in our democracy. I have had the privilege of meeting Erin and Kingsley, the last two MYPs for Bracknell. I believe that Kingsley has joined us in the Gallery today, alongside other MYPs; we briefly lost them to the right hon. Member for Richmond and Northallerton (Rishi Sunak), but I am glad to see that he has let them go so they can join us for this debate. I have heard at first hand from MYPs in Bracknell and across the country about the benefits of the scheme for them personally, as well as for the young people they represent. I should declare an interest as the chair of the all-party parliamentary group for schools, learning and assessment. Just before the summer, the APPG concluded its inquiry into votes at 16 with a report that I encourage all Members, especially the Minister, to read. The inquiry’s aim was to explore and make recommendations on how the Government can prepare young people to feel educated and empowered to use their vote at the age of 16. We heard from a wide range of young people, education professionals and youth and civil society organisations on how votes at 16 can be not just implemented, but made a success. Contributors to the report highlighted the importance of engagement with democracy and the democratic process, not just in the classroom but through wider enrichment opportunities. The UK Youth Parliament is a perfect example. Votes at 16 has been a long-standing campaign of the UK Youth Parliament. Its imminent introduction is a direct example of the power of the UK Youth Parliament to give young people a platform to make change at the highest levels. I firmly believe that the Government would not be making this historic change were it not for the campaigning zeal of successive generations of MYPs. I pay tribute to them all.

I put on the record my sincere thanks to Wolverhampton’s youth council, which has done a tremendous job of bringing a strong voice to represent young people across our city. They truly care about our communities and our city. Do my hon. Friend and the Minister agree that investing in our young people now makes good economic sense for our future?

Absolutely, and that is a theme to which I will return. Investing in young people is so important, not only for empowering them but for the skills and experience we need in the economy, so that young people can go on to get good jobs and support their local communities. That is exactly why I have always championed everything we can do to empower young people at the earliest age.

My hon. Friend is making an extremely important speech about young people’s participation in politics. I recently got to meet Freddie Burnett-Cherry, the MYP for Preston and South Ribble in my constituency. I was particularly impressed by how much work he has already done to better his community, such as youth surveys on antisocial behaviour and work on water safety. Does my hon. Friend agree that greater investment in the UK Youth Parliament is not just a nice thing for young people, but a brilliant investment in improving our communities right now?

I quite agree. Many young people have used their time as MYPs to make a real difference, including Sienna, a former MYP for Wolverhampton whose campaign against knife crime delivered bleed control kits across the west midlands, and Caitlin, a former MYP for Durham who worked on setting up the Big Debate in her local area. I am proud that I will be working with Kingsley, the MYP for Bracknell Forest, on his priorities for our community, including young people’s mental health and local transport.

I must thank Sienna, too: Sienna completed a week of work experience in my constituency office and in Parliament. I truly think that she is extraordinary. I just wanted to place that on the record.

What a lovely thing to have on the record. Sienna sounds like an incredible young woman. MYPs, like MPs, are elected to represent their local area. They engage in debate at a local, regional and national level on a huge range of issues. In 2009, the Youth Parliament became the first body ever, aside from Members of Parliament, to use the Commons Chamber.

We have some alumni of the Youth Parliament in this Chamber today. As a young person, I was on the steering committee that set it up. It is great to see so many former MYPs taking a seat in this Chamber, although sadly not so many on my side of the aisle. Does the hon. Member agree that the UK Youth Parliament plays a crucial role, but that young people who are less confident and more disadvantaged or who simply feel that politics has nothing to do with them might not engage through it? This is an opportunity for the Government to encourage more engagement across youth politics, not just among those who want to take elected roles.

I quite agree. That is a theme to which I will return. I think that there are sometimes some miscomprehensions about how diverse the YP scheme really is, but as the Government look to its future, we should absolutely be talking about making it even better and more inclusive; that is all to the good. In the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s own words: “The UK Youth Parliament is DCMS’ key mechanism for engaging with young people and ensuring their voices are heard in policy and decision making.” If we are serious about protecting and nurturing our democracy, we must also protect and nurture the opportunities that we give our young people to properly engage with it, understand it and feel a part of it.

Does my hon. Friend agree that with Pride in Place we have a great opportunity to get our local youth voices heard in shaping the future of their local community?

I completely agree. Sadly, I have not yet secured Pride in Place funding for Bracknell Forest, but I encourage all right hon. and hon. Members to think about including their local MYPs and other youth representatives as part of that programme. It can only be for the better. With the welcome enfranchisement of 16 and 17-year-olds, all this has never been more crucial. The UK Youth Parliament has a vital role to play in seizing the opportunity presented by votes at 16 to make the next generation the most informed and engaged ever.

My hon. Friend makes a good point about young people being informed and engaged but, more than that, it gives their brilliant ideas the chance to be heard and have an impact. I pay tribute to the young people who joined my “Your Voice, Your Future” campaigns programme this summer and in previous summers. They raised with me things like the social media ban, which has come into force, and I have been able to ensure that their voices are heard in my contributions in Parliament. With the Youth Parliament, however, they can do that directly. Does my hon. Friend agree that what is important is the impact that young people can have through those ideas?

Absolutely. I passionately believe, as do the Government, that it would be very wrong to form policies that will directly shape young people’s lives without actually engaging with young people. We might not always agree with their conclusions—on the social media ban, many of the young people I spoke to in Bracknell Forest came to a different conclusion from mine—but I hope they feel that I have listened to their concerns. Their views have very much shaped my thinking on that issue and many others. In 2023, DCMS commissioned IFF Research to evaluate the UK Youth Parliament. The evaluation found that the programme is delivering on its intended goals: to engage young people across the country in the democratic process and give them a route to express their voices on the issues that matter most to them. MYPs reported improved confidence, resilience, communication, problem solving, teamwork and critical thinking skills, to name but a few—the very skills that employers are crying out for from young people, and the very skills that the Government have committed to placing at the heart of our education system. I emphasise that MYPs consistently reported that meeting and making connections with other young people from across the country was a highlight of the programme. I share the concern raised by parents and teachers across the country that an increasingly online world is an increasingly atomised, isolated one for young people. Programmes such as the UK Youth Parliament, which inspire and excite young people and give them the opportunity to connect and learn from their peers away from the online world, are crucial. The Government’s national youth strategy was the first in two decades. It sets out our commitment to building a country that works not just for but with young people. The UK Youth Parliament has a clear role to play in helping the Department to achieve the strategy, especially its key aim that our society must be one in which young people are meaningfully seen and heard.

My hon. Friend is making a brilliant speech on an important topic. On ensuring that young people’s voices are heard at the very heart of Government, does he agree that the Government should consider appointing a Minister for the younger and future generations, with a team of staff whose sole job is to listen to those voices, bring them to the Cabinet table and assess all policy, legislation and proposed legislation through the lens of whether it gives a voice to young people and takes their interests into account?

I welcome the point. I will do my hon. Friend one better: I think that that should be the job of every single Minister. The Government’s role is to deliver for people up and down this country, and we have a particular duty to deliver for our young people. Sometimes it is their voices that are the most forgotten. I recognise that the UK Youth Parliament scheme always has room for improvement. It is certainly disappointing that not every area is represented in the Youth Parliament and that not all local areas engage evenly with the scheme. To coin a phrase, I want to see youth opportunity and youth engagement in every postcode. I have also heard concerns that it is not diverse enough and that it engages only those most likely to participate already. In fact, on that measure the Youth Parliament is far outperforming this Parliament, its older sibling. It is a far more representative body than we are. About 52% of the previous UKYP intake were women, compared with 41% of MPs; 40% had an ethnic minority background, compared with 14% of us; and 9% came from the most disadvantaged 10% of areas, according to the index of multiple deprivation, with roughly 51% coming from postcodes ranked in the most deprived half of IMD deciles. There is always more work to be done, but we would do well to take note of the UK Youth Parliament’s success in electing a rich and diverse group of representatives. I also think it is important to stress that although the programme’s most visible success might be the annual debate in the House, where young people stand up and debate so eloquently, there are many local successes that we should remember as well. We have already spoken about many of those here today. All those successes, both locally and nationally, come at a cost, but in departmental terms—certainly in Government terms—they are extremely small and extremely good value. The last full two-year funding commitment given by DCMS came to only £750,000. I hope colleagues will appreciate that I have tried to avoid too many clichés about young people. From a man of my age they are, in the words of young people, “cringe”. But I do want to indulge a little bit now with some final thoughts, not from myself but from Kingsley, our current MYP for Bracknell Forest. He put it so much better than I ever could hope to, saying that “investing in UKYP is investing in young people, our communities and the future of our democracy”.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairmanship, Mr Betts. I thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) for securing the debate and for his excellent speech. As the Member for Hemel Hempstead, I am proud to support, and want to see continued support for, a nationally elected UK Youth Parliament. That comes from personal experience, from having been elected as a Member of the UK Youth Parliament way back in 2001, then proceeding to be part of the procedures group, as it was, until 2003, and subsequently serving as a trustee of the UK Youth Parliament for a brief period later in that decade. I want to pay particular tribute to Kate Parish and Peter Clarke, two people who were central to the creation of the UK Youth Parliament and certainly provided me with a great deal of support. I really do attribute the UK Youth Parliament, and my experience in it, to my standing here today as a Member of Parliament; it was the start of my journey towards dedicating my life to public service. As we have heard, there are many others who have now followed that path too. When I was first elected to Parliament to represent Hertfordshire—well, for the first time since representing Hertfordshire as a Member of the UK Youth Parliament—I was sad to discover that Hertfordshire, at that point, was not participating any longer in the scheme. Along with other Labour MPs in Hertfordshire, I worked very closely with both Liberal Democrat and Labour councillors on Hertfordshire county council to try to bring it back. I am delighted that Hertfordshire now participates in the UK Youth Parliament again. I had the pleasure of meeting this year’s new representatives, including a gentleman who represents Hemel Hempstead, a few weeks back. I pay tribute to Katie Fineman and Karen Haswell for the brilliant work they do as youth workers in Hertfordshire. The best part of the UK Youth Parliament, as the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) and my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell have touched on, is when it reaches people from diverse backgrounds, particularly working-class backgrounds. I recognise that there is sometimes some criticism around whether it does that, but my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell eloquently laid out the ways in which it is actually doing a terrific job. The UK Youth Parliament certainly helped me, as someone who had not participated in anything like it before, and it really built my skills and confidence. It is often the first experience many people have of speaking in public, networking and meeting other people. We have to ensure that we do not lose that.

My hon. Friend’s point about youth services—with young people being supported to find their voice, and to understand and navigate the relationships and adult structures within the UK Youth Parliament in order to feed in their ideas, ambitions and thoughts—is incredibly important. The youth service has been decimated, but it is the youth service and those supporting youth workers who are required to really back this work up.

I could not agree more. If we are looking at the future of the UK Youth Parliament, perhaps the solution to the postcode problem my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell alluded to is to mandate that local authorities go further and faster in making sure that the UK Youth Parliament is inclusive and reaches people from working-class backgrounds. It would be a shame if we lost that. It is really important that working-class kids get a chance to have their voices heard, as they do at the moment. Particularly with votes at 16 on the horizon, it is important that there continue to be elections to the UK Youth Parliament, with participation from as many young people as possible in schools in each county. It is also important to remember that the UK Youth Parliament is not just about the few who are lucky enough to be elected; over the years, millions of young people have participated in one way or another, through the elections and the campaigns in local areas. As my hon. Friend said, it is about not just the national conference, but the activities that go on around the country throughout the year, and we should not lose sight of that. I join others in asking that the Government, Parliament and the Speaker’s Office work together to find a truly sustainable funding mechanism for the future. In 20 years’ time, we will perhaps not be standing here ourselves, but we want to see people who are sitting in the Public Gallery today standing where we are now, giving speeches about the importance of the UK Youth Parliament.

It is a pleasure to serve under your chairship, Mr Betts. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell (Peter Swallow) on securing this incredibly important debate and on the success of the campaign for votes at 16, as highlighted in the recent inquiry by the all-party parliamentary group on schools, learning and assessment, which he chairs. I am sorry to hear that he came third in his national Youth Parliament ambitions, but I am delighted that he is with us in Parliament now. The experience of my hon. Friend the Member for Hemel Hempstead (David Taylor) as a Member of the Youth Parliament between 2001 and 2003 highlights the lasting impact of youth participation. I want to express my deepest thanks for his tireless advocacy for young people in his constituency and across the nation. I know how passionately he cares about ensuring that the next generation is not merely listened to, but genuinely heard and empowered. That goes for all Members who contributed. My hon. Friends the Members for Wolverhampton North East (Sureena Brackenridge), for Aylesbury (Laura Kyrke-Smith) and for Gravesham (Dr Sullivan), the hon. Member for Newbury (Mr Dillon) and my hon. Friend the Member for Rugby (John Slinger) all spoke about the powerful young advocates in their constituencies, and it was fantastic to hear them being celebrated. I also pay tribute to the incredible partner organisations, the youth workers and, above all, the inspiring young people who deliver the UK Youth Parliament day in, day out. It is genuinely great to see so many of them in the Public Gallery. Throughout my time as an MP and previously—particularly in my work leading the Youth Violence Commission—my purpose has been rooted in supporting and standing with young people. I have seen at first hand the transformational impact of timely intervention, and how a trusted adult, a safe space or a creative outlet can offer a vital lifeline and a transformed future. That work showed me that young people have the solutions; they just need space, support and opportunities. That insight drives my decisions as Minister for youth and underpins our commitment to ensuring that every young person gets the opportunities they deserve. Our young people are not merely the leaders of tomorrow; they are the active, vibrant and thoughtful citizens of today. They deserve to be heard and valued, and they should be in the driving seat when decisions that affect their lives are made. Since 1999, the UK Youth Parliament has given thousands of young people a platform to champion key issues, hold decision makers to account and drive positive social change in their communities. We are currently working closely with young people and partners, including Members of the Youth Parliament, to co-design the Government’s work to increase young people’s involvement in democracy and decision making, with a particular focus on under-represented groups. We will share the outcomes of that work later in the autumn. We are also keeping our promise to give 16 and 17-year-olds the right to vote through votes at 16. We are working closely across Government to implement that commitment, ensuring that the necessary legislative and operational preparations are in place to successfully embed early democratic participation, so that young people have a formal stake in shaping the future of our country. I am personally passionate about ensuring inclusivity in everything we do. It is not enough simply to open the door; we must actively break down the structural and socioeconomic barriers that prevent young people from under-represented backgrounds from stepping through it. Every young person, regardless of their ethnicity, geography or background, deserves an equal voice. It is imperative that more young people across the country gain direct and meaningful access to influence decisions, locally in their communities and nationally. By embedding young people in decision-making processes, we ensure that our policy solutions are richer, fairer and genuinely reflective of the nation we serve. We are taking proactive, transformative steps across our wider youth empowerment initiatives through our “Be Seen & Heard” pillar of Youth Matters, to ensure that young people are directly in the driving seat. As part of that work, we will recruit a dedicated new youth policy network to co-design national Government policy, and we will shortly be refreshing our youth advisory group, which will oversee the delivery of Youth Matters. We are also backing youth social action by continuing to support the #iWill movement. Through the Youth Matters fund, we are assembling youth decision making directly into local investment. This will include a range of tools and support to ensure minimum standards and meaningful engagement with young people, so that provision is targeted where young people need it most. All those democratic and participation initiatives align directly with our overarching Youth Matters national youth strategy, which was published in 2025 and was, as has been said, the first in more than 15 years. Youth Matters represents a fundamental shift in how we support young people across our Government. For too long, youth services were subjected to short-term, fragmented funding that left provision patchy and unsustainable. We are moving away from those temporary fixes towards sustainable, long-term support that gives youth workers and local organisations the stability they need to build lasting relationships with young people. Youth Matters provides the foundations for our ongoing work with young people to co-design our fresh approach to youth empowerment, ensuring that national opportunities are better connected to local infrastructure. I invite hon. Members to share experiences of what is working in their constituencies with the Department, and to continue to create opportunities for young people to engage with them and, where appropriate, with Parliament. I hope this debate will be the beginning of an ongoing conversation. I genuinely thank my hon. Friend the Member for Bracknell once again for introducing this important debate. Our wider youth strategy is about giving every young person someone who cares, somewhere to go and something to do. Together, we will build a society where every single young person feels valued, safe, supported, seen and truly heard. Question put and agreed to.