HeadsUp forum gets young people talking about politics

The most recent HeadsUp forum - Youth Citizenship Commission :: Are young people allergic to politics? - took place between 17 November and 5 December 2008. The Youth Citizenship Commission was set up following on from the Governance of Britain report in 2007, to look at ways of developing young people’s understanding of citizenship and increasing their participation in politics. The Commissioners were tasked with finding out what citizenship means to young people, whether they think they should be able to vote at 16 and how our political system can best listen and respond to their concerns. They used the HeadsUp forum to find out what young people up and down the country think about these issues.

The Commission will report back to the Prime Minister in late spring 2009 and the opinions of HeadsUp users will be included in their findings. There will be an opportunity for HeadsUp users to find out more in a debate (15 June – 3 July 2009) that will discuss the findings once the final report has been written.

This HeadsUp debate was the most popular ever, with young people telling the Commissioners exactly what they don't like about politics, how it can be more child friendly and what can be done to promote politics to young people. For more information about what the young people said about citizenship, politics, their communities and volunteering download the Youth Citizenship Commission forum report.doc 

 Jon Tonge, Chair of the Youth Citizenship Commission said:

"Can I thank all those who have posted on the HeadsUp forum in recent weeks. There has been lots of lively debate, especially about why young people are often turned off by conventional politics and on the subject of the voting age."

If you want to find out more about the Youth Citizenship Commission or submit evidence to their investigation please visit http://www.ycc.uk.net/