DCMS Youth Minister – “putting young people at the ‘heard’ of decision-making”

 (Minister for Sport, Media, Civil Society and Youth – Stephanie Peacock – keynote speech.

Was it a typo (I doubt it but I written to DCMS to check) or a signal that we should replace the cliche “young people are at the HEART of ,,”, with “at the HEARD of decision-making”. Could this mark a significant shift in attitudes towards youth participation, a welcome strapline for the Governments new Youth Strategy? DCMS Youth Team Minister, Stephanie Peacock MP was speaking at the launch of the UK Youth Parliaments Select Committees report into Youth Violence and Social Media. Read the full report, and recommendations here and follow @UKYP social media. She also used her speech to reinforce the role of DCMS in being the lead department for ‘out of school provision and acknowledged that other departments have significant responsibilities for young people which will need coordinating.

“We are the lead department for out of school provision.  What really strikes me about all the work you do and the things you talk about in this report is that they are cross-Government. You’ll know that this Government has taken a mission based approach and we want to work across Government to get things done”. This mission is being coordinated by the DCMS Youth Team  which clarified its cross-cutting ‘youth-services’ role on 5th March, with details of  the Youth Strategy process and how young people can have a say  (Deliver You – scroll down for link). It is being advised by a Youth Advisory and Expert Groups which has now been made public.

She welcomed the report because it “comes at a very timely moment because there’s been a national debate with Adolescence on Netflix which has shone a light on just how devastating and complex some of these issues can be. So I really do welcome the challenge provided by the report”

The Youth Select Committee was originally conceived as part of the British Youth Councils ‘Youth Voice’ initiative which brought together representatives from its membership, local young councils, young mayors, and UK Youth Parliament, to host annual inquiries into priority policy areas for young people. With matched funding from Government, Parliament and a range of other stakeholders, it  produced x reports [Link to BYC Archive] until BYC closed in 2024. The new UKYP youth select committee, exclusively recruited from its membership, was revived by the National Youth Agency as part of successful awarding of the UKYP tender to continue its delivery during 2024.25, a contract presumably extended whilst the consultation into the Youth Strategy continues. In November 2024, the government said that funding for the UK Youth Parliament after March 2026 “cannot be confirmed at this stage” whilst it was working towards the next spending review.

” I want to say very clearly that we want to listen to young people. But not just listen but put young people at the heard of decision making”

The Minister also used the opportunity to invite more young people to participate in the consultation on the  National Youth Strategy using digital postcards which include information on how young people can complete their response on paper, smartphone or computer. She singled out local Youth Councils as one network that could lead the drive to access young peoples views. “I would really encourage you as leaders of your communities to get involved in this. We are very clear that wherever you are from, whatever your postcode, whether you are engaged in a youth organisation or not, we want to hear from you …  hopefully everybody can have an input into our Youth Strategy.

She concluded “We will be publishing it in the summer and we want to work cross-party. We appreciate there are issues that affect young people; you want the same access to healthcare, you want to liaise with public services. Whatever it is, it is important that we as a Government listen to young people. I look forward to reading the report and want to thank all everyone that has been involved: the NYA, Parliamentary Clerks and all of you. Hopefully it will lead to change.

Hopefully? My hope is that we all adopt the catchphrase “at the heard of decision-making” and make change inevitable, taking us one step close to have a National Listen (Cabinet level Youth Minister) to match a National Youth Voice (Revived Youthled Youth Council) .

The ‘Deliver You’ communications campaign Deliver You is a national campaign across England, seeking views directly from young people to inform the National Youth Strategy. The campaign, co-produced with young people, is an ambitious and exciting opportunity for young people to share their views, experiences, and ideas- and to tell the government what really matters to them.