Meeting of the Parliament 18 January 2024
In gathering 75 young people from across Scotland, the inaugural Scottish rural and islands youth parliament was a real success. The feedback has been resoundingly positive, and it is clear that attendees gained a great deal.
One of the asks from the 2023 parliament was about leadership, engagement and participation, which I will focus on. The delegates asked to have a voice in Parliament, and I was pleased that the cabinet secretary spoke to that. It is great that a number of the delegates have been here today and have met the Cabinet, the cabinet secretary and the First Minister.
All of us in the Parliament have a responsibility to act on behalf of our rural and island youth in everything that we do, because so much that happens here will impact them. We need to ensure that that impact is positive and is informed by young people’s views.
When it comes to engaging young people, the issue is not the need to support them to develop their ideas, as they know exactly what they need. Their understanding of the challenges and opportunities for their communities is sophisticated. When school students from my constituency visit me, their questions are thoughtful and incisive. The issue is how we change our processes to include young people. The Government has taken excellent steps towards that through the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, as well as the Cabinet takeover by the Children’s Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament. I would also like to see conversations about widening participation in consultation processes. Young people in my constituency have started the Forth Valley youth local action group, and they join us today. It was lovely to chat with them earlier about how their day was going. They were really enthusiastic about the Government’s work.
Members of the Forth Valley group attended the Scottish rural and islands youth parliament, and, ahead of our debate, one member talked about making it easier for young people to find out about and contribute to local consultations. They highlighted the need to make consultations less hostile to those who do not have professional lobbying experience. Children in Scotland says that young people should be given the opportunity to influence the methods of their engagement in policy making, and I call on the Government to work with young people to allow them to shape how they engage with our consultations.
The Scottish rural and islands youth parliament and the Forth Valley youth local action group—that was a lot of words; it would be nicer to have shorter titles—have both highlighted the importance of resources. Research has found that engagement work with young people has had big impacts, but those impacts could still be increased. Children in Scotland notes that, when projects have long-term or permanent funding streams, participation work tends to be more meaningful.
More resources would allow for increased participation, deeper engagement and, crucially, greater impact. Secure funding streams would also ensure a wider range of views. It is important to remember that, although there are a lot of commonalities across our rural areas, there are also specific needs and challenges. For example, Strathard, in my constituency, has been working hard to design community life plans. However, in this one community council area, four separate life plans have been developed because the needs, requirements and priorities of our rural areas, even in one small area, are very different. It would be wrong of us to homogenise those rural areas—they must all have their voice.
The SRIYP is a great way to identify shared issues and common themes, but it must prompt us to hold space for more specific challenges. Children in Scotland has also highlighted that including the views of young people whose voices are seldom heard requires time, resources and planning. Large engagement events are useful, but they do not work for everyone. I am eager to hear how the Government intends to find a balance. We know that consensus is powerful, but we also know that it is not always there. It would do a disservice to the vibrancy and diversity of our young people and our island and rural communities to homogenise them.
Like many, I am looking forward to the national islands plan and progress on the implementation of other plans. I am also eager to hear how the Government will increase engagement with rural and island young people and, crucially, how that will be resourced.
16:06