SYP charges into priceless action for young people

It’s been difficult to escape the hard financial times of the last year and young people are no exception – in fact many argue that young people are being hardest hit by the economic recession and should be a big priority for action.

With that in mind, the SYP March Sitting in Coatbridge over the weekend of 6th and 7th March, MSYPs got stuck into hot debates themed around ‘Young people and money’, heard from special guests, got honoured at the SYP Awards 2010, debated issues that they care about that may go to the Scottish Parliament’s Petitions Committee and looked to the future with plans for our next Youth Manifesto!

Young People and Money

Kicking things off with a rousing and inspirational keynote by Fraser Doherty, MSYPs quickly got to the heart of the issue. Fraser is the Managing Director of SuperJam, an extremely successful company he set up himself to sell jam based on his grandmother’s recipes. At the age of just 21, he’s won many awards for his entrepreneurial talents, and MSYPs were impressed and inspired by his journey. This was quickly followed by an expert panel, including representatives from Citizens Advice Scotland, ProjectScotland and the Co-operative Education Trust, discussing with MSYPs the issue of whether “young people are being disproportionately affected by the economic recession and should be a priority for action.”

Three action-packed debates were next up, looking at issues including careers advice, young peoples’ rights at work and student poverty. The hall heard MSYPs sharing their views and opinions of the young people they represent. You can catch a glimpse of just some of the contributions below.

“Schools are too focussed on preparing for exams and not basic life skills” Danielle Rowley MSYP

“University isn’t the be all and end all – careers advice is too focussed on higher education not careers” David Leitch MSYP

“Young people may not be as experienced as older people and can find it difficult to get a job because of that” Austin Sheridan MSYP

“Young people need equal treatment” Jodie Campbell MSYP

"I agree that everyone should have equal rights, but some people are using recession as an excuse not to work" Beatrice Webster MSYP

“There are hidden costs for students – food or books?” Liam Beattie MSYP

“To get student funding there’s 19 pages of forms to fill out and the helpline is always engaged” Laura Gorman MSYP

Each of the three debates topics were voted on and MSYPs were strongly supportive of action on each of them. “Young people must be able to access quality, practical careers advice which reflects the reality of education, training and work opportunities available to them” was supported by 87% of MSYPs, the proposal that “the recession is no excuse for taking advantage of young people in the workplace – everyone deserves equal rights and equal pay” found favour with 73% and the idea that “the success of Scotland’s students must not be compromised by financial worries. Immediate action needs to be taken to ensure students don’t face poverty and hardship in pursuit of their education” was also comfortably passed with 81% of MSYPs voting for it.

Following a presentation from our gracious hosts at North Lanarkshire Youth Buzz, MSYPs took part in interactive workshops hosted by six organisations who know all about young people and money – Quarriers, the Poverty Alliance, Citizens Advice Scotland, Young Scot, CashBack for Communities and YouthBank Scotland. Judging on the feedback, which included Jenga stacks, song-and-dance routines, Jeremy Kyle impersonations and charity auctions MSYPs found the workshops to be both fun and informative.

SYP Awards 2010

The annual SYP Awards night is now firmly a fixture in SYP’s calendar and this one, the fifth edition was no exception! With a mix of glitz, glamour, prizes and tears, a number of MSYPs were rewarded for their hard work over the past year. Judging from the record-breaking amount of nominations received there’s been some exceptional work going on over the last twelve months, so much so that the independent judging panel decided to present a number of Special Commendation awards to deserving candidates.

With a high profile line-up of presenters including MSPs and heads of major organisations, MSYPs and support workers were recognised in six categories:

MSYP of the Year

Winner – Brian Borland MSYP (Ayr)
Special Commendation – David Leitch MSYP (Livingston)

Presented by Elaine Smith MSP

Support Worker of the Year

Winner – Colin Wilkinson (West Lothian)
Special Commendation – Martin Summers (Shetland)

Presented by Louise Macdonald (Chief Executive, Young Scot)

Newcomer of the Year

Winner – Danielle Rowley MSYP (Midlothian)
Special Commendation – Melissa Marsden (Who Cares? Scotland)

Presented by Colin Temple (Managing Director, Schuh)

The John McCann Unsung Hero Award

Winner – Gary Airnes MSYP (Stirling)
Special Commendation – Laura Gorman MSYP (Dundee West)

Presented by Cllr. Jim Logue and Cllr. Harry McGuigan (North Lanarkshire Council)

Outstanding Achievement

Winner – Jamie O’Neill MSYP (Glasgow Anniesland)
Special Commendation – Kieran Morrell (Cunninghame South)

Presented by Linda Fabiani MSP

Area of the Year

Winner – North Lanarkshire

Presented by Derek Couper MSYP (SYP Chair)

Members Motions

SYP Members Motions are a great way for individual MSYPs to share the issues they care about and to try and get the full weight of the Scottish Youth Parliament behind them. And they’ve just got better as we’ve agreed that the Scottish Parliament’s Public Petitions Committee will hold a special session as part of the SYP October Sitting in the Scottish Parliament where some of the Members Motion issues from this Sitting will be raised as petitions.

The first saw a lively debate led by Rowena Carlton MSYP on the motion that “compulsory political education should be provided in all schools in Scotland”. Several MSYPs were extremely enthusiastic supporters of the idea, with others giving it a more cautious welcome depending on where it would fit into a busy school curriculum. Rowena’s motion was successful, with support from 66% of MSYPs.

Andrew Deans MSYP has been a prominent campaigner against ‘mosquito’ devices over the last few months and brought his call that the devices, which make a high-pitched sound that only young people can hear, should be banned. This was very warmly received by the membership, with a substantial 88% backing his call together with some passionate arguments against the ‘mosquito’ which is seen to completely discriminate against under 25s.

Exam leave for prelims was the subject of a motion from MSYPs Rebbecca Garnett and Megan Wallace. At their school, study leave has been removed, and they’ve started a campaign to have it restored Scotland-wide. Despite their best efforts, the majority of MSYPs were unconvinced with 54% voting against the motion.

The final of the four motions was the property of Jodie Campbell MSYP who made the case that “young carers in Scotland should be shown that they are appreciated members of society and should be offered more support inside and outside of education”. Jodie, like 17% of our membership is a young carer herself and told about the many hardships that young people caring for others suffer on a daily basis. The motion swayed MSYPs, with the backing of almost nine-in-ten MSYPs (89%). The three successful Members Motions will now move to the next stage of the journey to the Scottish Parliament – watch this space for more details coming soon!

Towards Elections and Manifestos

With the elections to the UK Parliament looming large, and recent research from the Electoral Commission suggesting that 56% of 16-25 year olds aren’t even registered to vote, we teamed up with the Commission to run an activity on the Sunday afternoon of the Sitting which looked at why young people don’t vote. Group discussions took place where possible reasons why young people don’t register to vote, with some MSYPs suggesting that because doing so also registers you for potential jury duty.

When asked why young people don’t vote, the most common views were that it was related to lack of interest (42%) or lack of knowledge (37%). This may be related to how young people learn about voting, with 30% of MSYPs suggesting that they don’t. 80% felt that schools should be the main channel for young people to learn about voting. The outcomes of the session will be used by the Electoral Commission to help inform their work with young people, as well as SYP’s ongoing campaigning around Votes at 16, participation and citizenship.

Finally, MSYPs got a sneak peak at the biggest piece of work that SYP will be running this year – the mass consultation leading up to the 2011 Youth Manifesto. This is one of the biggest things the SYP does and we’re aiming to consult 15,000 young people across Scotland from this summer! To do that we need some ideas, with an open callout for suggestions for potential issues for the Manifesto in April and May. Keep your eyes on www.syp.org.uk and the Weekly Update for details of this when it’s launched!

All-in-all, the March Sitting was a lively expression of the passion, democracy and political independence of MSYPs and Scotland’s young people. We certainly weren’t short of opinions and views and with plenty of exciting things to look forward to over the coming months, the next Sitting in Livingston, West Lothian on 26th and 27th June looks like a can’t miss. We look forward to seeing MSYPs there for another weekend of SYP action!

To view more photos from the Sitting click here to see them on Flickr

To relive the Sitting as it happened, click here to read our live Twitter coverage.