The Scottish Youth Parliament is going to have it's next sitting this June on the 26th. This will also be the Youth Parliaments AGM where MSYPs will have the opportunity to be elected to the Board of Trustees which Govern the Youth Parliament and make important decisions on the finance of the Scottish Youth Parliament and also covers areas such as which staff to employ etc.
Any MSYP between the age of 16 - 25 will have the opportunity to apply to become a candidate for Trustee Director, Chair and Vice Chair. This is a great example of a properly Youth Lead organisation. No major decision is made by anyone over the age of 25 and all board members must be Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament. No other Youth Parliament in the UK is entirely Youth Led.
You must be over the age of 16 to become a board member due to child protection law. This is why the age range of 14 - 25 benefits the SYP. If we had an age range such as 11-18 we would not be able to have a Youth Lead Parliament.
I have been thinking of standing for a position on the board as I believe that the Scottish Youth Parliament still needs a lot of change to become a model Youth Parliament I believe it can be. There has been lots of changes in the SYP over the past year which have been very beneficial to the day to day running of the Scottish Youth Parliament but we have not gone far enough in my view. I believe that the SYP has not met it's full potential. I believe its about MSYPs working together to make it more accountable and more democratic. It's time for change, it's time to move forward.
What I think the SYPs main goal should be is this, we should try and become a department of the Scottish Parliament. Become an OFFICAL Youth Parliament like the Irish equivalent. This is a goal that we should aim for. The SYP has been leading the way in Europe when it comes to Youth Parliaments, we should continue to lead the way by becoming a Government department which would mean more secure funding.
Another thing I would like to see is reform of the Committee system. It is unworkable in its current state and I am sure that MSYPs will agree that even though we are all members of committee's we do not have committee meetings. If we can reform this I believe that it will close the 'us and them' gap between backbench MSYPs and MSYPs who are Conveners/Deputy Conveners and Trustee Directors. Along side these plans I would like to see all minuets (non-confidential) of the Board meetings published for all MSYPs to read and hopefully the general public would also be able to read them.
We will just have to wait and see what happens at this years AGM to see if we get people who are willing to go for the change we need.
If you have any questions please e-mail me at: austin.sheridan.msyp@sypmail.org.uk
Posted by Austin Sheridan MSYP
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This article can be found at: www.AustinMSYP.co.nr (Blog Section)
