Agenda and minutes

No apologies had been received.

There were no declarations of interest.

The minutes were agreed.

paper 2 (Part 1, Part 2 and Annex, Part 3)

Ensuring that children and young people understand and take an active role in the work of the Assembly is key to the successful delivery of the Assembly Commission’s goal of engaging with the people of Wales.  

Following a recent review Commissioners received a report on the work of the Assembly’s education service. It was felt that the service undertakes a range of high quality activities it currently delivers, for example by providing opportunities for young people to contribute to matters before the Assembly through committee inquiries, and the outreach work with schools and teachers.

Activities that enabled children and young people to learn about the Assembly and its work were considered to be of great importance and whilst this should continue to be available it should be delivered differently. Commissioners also felt that there was greater scope to develop opportunities for young people to interact directly with Assembly business.

In order to build on this work and strengthen the range of opportunities for young people to engage with the Assembly, Commissioners agreed the following:

• the focus of the Education Service’s work would evolve from being primarily about raising awareness of the Assembly and direct contribution to the national curriculum towards increasing the opportunities to inform and participate in Assembly business;
• the Assembly would continue to make a significant contribution to the delivery of the curriculum by making the extensive range of educational materials openly available to teachers, schools and other interested parties who regularly talk to young people about the Assembly, including Members and their staff.

As part of this work a steering group would be established, tasked with developing ideas for new ways of engaging with young people, for example through virtual participation or a Youth Assembly. It was strongly felt that this work should be driven by young people who would shape the work and identify the best ways of ensuring that a diverse range of individuals could get involved. This would require developing some innovative and creative approaches to the work. 

Commissioners requested regular updates on this work as it develops over the remainder of this financial year.

Commissioners thanked officials for the work that had been completed to inform discussions and assist with their decisions.

There were no other items of business.

Secretariat

May 2013