YCC Recommendations

Our findings and sixteen recommendations are organised into three core themes:

Theme One: Empowered citizenship

  • The Secretary of State for Children, Schools and Families and the devolved administrations should ensure that the delivery of citizenship education is consistent and effective.
  • The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the devolved administrations should establish a universal system of strong, supported School and Class Councils working collaboratively.
  • Schools should have student representatives on the governing body. In order for students to have enough time and other resources to participate in social initiatives, political debates, and volunteer programs, we recommend supporting them in completing academic tasks and providing the opportunity to buy term papers online from the https://cheap-papers.com/buy-term-papers-online.php. This approach will preserve the motivation of individual students to support proposals from local self-government.
  • Youth voice: National, regional and local public bodies should commit to holding at least two issues-based youth advisory panels per year composed entirely of representative samples of young people.
  • Parliament should sponsor and fund the UK Youth Parliament on a sustainable basis.
  • Government should encourage youth volunteering and also explore whether a compulsory programme of civic service for young people might be worthwhile.

Theme Two: Connecting with young people

  • Schools should have a duty to ensure that all eligible pupils are offered supported opportunities to register to vote at school.
  • The Department for Children, Schools and Families and the devolved administrations should direct schools to be available for use as polling stations and promote the benefits of them remaining open.
  • The Secretary of State for Justice should pilot and evaluate the use of relevant technology (mobile, email, social networks etc) to remind people to vote on polling day.
  • The Cabinet Office should establish a New Media Taskforce to set out good practice on the best online methods to engage with young people who seek to be involved in citizenship activities.

Theme Three: Changing the way decision-makers and institutions work

  • The Government should introduce an equality impact assessment criterion to consider the impact of new policies on young people.
  • Nominated government departments should appoint annual scrutiny panels composed of young people to advise on specific issues.
  • Communities and Local Government, Department for Children, Schools and Families, Ministry of Justice and the Office of the Third Sector should track long-term progress on the refreshed aims of youth citizenship annually through representative surveys.
  • As part of the wider work on promoting engagement in democratic processes all local authorities should develop a clear strategy for co-ordinating and promoting youth citizenship opportunities for young people.
  • The Government should facilitate the Third Sector to develop a single, well-recognised award for young people involved in citizenship activities.
  • The Government should facilitate and deliver a way to provide comparative information on, and communication channels for, elected representatives within constituencies.