We’ve just received the following notification.

ONLINE FORUM

Services for Young People

The Education Committee today launched an online discussion with young people as part of its ongoing inquiry into Services for Young People.

The Committee has teamed up with leading online student community The Student Room to consult its 500,000 young members about which services they use. It wants to hear from young people aged 13 to 25 on subjects including what out-of-school activities they do, whether they volunteer, their views on a summer programme for 16-year olds and how they would spend the budget for young people in their area.

Committee Chair, Graham Stuart MP said:

“The Committee wants to consult those who really know which services are most important—young people. We are therefore delighted to be able to collaborate with The Student Room to seek the views of a wide range of young people across the country, and we urge young people to go online and contribute!”

Jamie O’Connell, Marketing Director for The Student Room said:

“There is a tremendous breadth of services for young people in the country, many of which provide a vital contribution to local communities and the contact that young people have with these organisations, and in some cases volunteers, can be life changing. We’re very pleased to help the Education Committee with this consultation and will encourage our diverse community to get involved.”

The site will be live from 1600 on Wednesday 2 March and young people are encouraged to contribute at www.thestudentroom.co.uk/youthservices

It feels  restrictive in that young people are asked to respond to four threads:

What out-of-school activities do you do and where?

Are you a volunteer and what do you do?

Would a summer programme for 16 year olds leaving school interest you?

If you were in charge, how would you spend money for young people in your area

Whatever our reservations – the Committee could meet young people face-to-face – we presume that we will be encouraging young people to seize this opportunity. The site is up and running, but no one has posted yet! Spread the word!

STOP PRESS: I thought there might be a snag. In order for a young person to comment, he or she has to sign up to become a member of the student room. This process always puts loads of people off!