Hertfordshire’s Members of Youth Parliament 2011
Find out how we are representing you and follow our updates
In Hertfordshire there are six Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs) and six Deputy Members of Youth Parliament (DMYPs). Together they represent your voice in Herts.
Find out what we are up to this year, follow our campaigns and your say below:
January 2012
This Saturday brings our last regional event representing young people in Herts. Our term of office comes to an end in February; voting closes on 3rd February and come the 11th, we will know who the next group of representatives are.
Some of us are re-standing and are hopeful of re-election but in the meantime we can celebrate Joe being elected as the East of England Procedures Group representative – which means that whilst he will be leaving our group, he will still be part of the Region as a whole. As the last regional, and being held on our patch at XC Hemel Hempstead, we will get the opportunity to be have a go on the High Ropes and Caving – this should be great fun as we have not had the chance, as UKYP, to do this type of thing before – we’re looking forward to it but a little bit scared!
November 2011 - Leading a debate in the House of Commons
By Xavier
Teenagers in the House of Commons can only mean UK Youth Parliament. The annual debates that took place on November 4th saw politicians give up their seats on the green benches for young people, elected to represent the under 18s up and down the UK. I was privileged enough to be elected as a debate lead representing our region, the East of England. No doubt a fantastic experience, but it wasn’t without its obstacles.
The duality of excitement and nerves felt like there was a carnival of adrenaline erupting from deep inside, which with progression towards the skin, turned almost sour and dark. My mouth was dry, my legs were wobbling, and my continence was unstable. This wasn’t made any easier by the daunting challenge of arguing against “Zero Tolerance towards Bullying in Schools” being UKYP’s top campaign, one of five debates voted by over 60,000 young people.
I overcame my fears and ended up really enjoying the delivery of my speech. Amidst the grandeur and history of the chamber, it was decided that the efforts of Members of Youth Parliament in the following year would be to, “Make Transport Better, Cheaper and More Accessible.” In all, a special event that ensured young people are listened to by politicians. Now, to work...
September 2011
On our last day at the UKYP Annual meeting, over 250 of MYPs from across the country gathered together for the Big Vote. The Big Vote was a democratic vote for the UKYP 2011 Manifesto policies. We were all given an electric voting device where we either pressed 1 (Yes), 2 (No), 3 (Abstain).
We had 27 policies to vote on and for each one there was a person who put forward their policy to us in a two minute speech. It was a lively session with a lot of issues ranging from reducing the age in smear testing to prevent against cervical cancer, culling of badgers, political education in schools, youth service cuts and reducing household energy. Please see our link on facebook to vote for what you think is important - the top five will then form the issues debated in the House of Commons on 4th November!
August 2011
At our last meeting, Mrs Wendy Gill, Policy & Practice Development Officer from the Targeted Advice Service, HCC, asked to talk to us about how the County Council could best support young people in Herts who go missing on a regular basis. This could be a young person running away from home due to issues with parents/siblings or someone from a Care Home where they are unhappy.
A point that stuck in our minds was that when young people run away they are not always ‘running away’ from something, sometimes they are ‘running to’ something. It proved to be a very moving discussion that increased our awareness that there are some young people who need support to deal with the issues in life that some may find easy to deal with, whilst others other struggle big time. Whilst our main involvement was looking at the publication of a leaflet, this has struck a chord with some of us and will be an issue that as individuals we will be looking at getting closer involved with over the coming months. Keep an eye out for our individual blogs at the top of this page too.
July 2011
We had a meeting at Watford’s Youth Connexions One Stop Shop on July 11th. We talked about ideas about the O2 fund, Facebook and Channelmogo, local youth council gatherings, and also our issue/project planning. At the meeting there was a presentation on Hertfordshire’s Youth Parliament official Facebook page in which group admins were made – this also links to this page on Channelmogo with our updates.
Our issue/project planning was based on Political Education, Transport, and also Mental Health Service. What we are trying to do is get more schools into Political Education, half the group wanted the basics of it, and the other half wanted the structure of it. There was an idea for Political Education where we can do a ‘Question Time’ at school, and students of that school would ask questions about politics to the following speakers. We do want to reduce Transport fares, however this would take us along time – but instead we are looking at advertising the Saver Card. Atlanta
We had our second Regional meeting at Bedford Borough Council offices on Saturday 2nd July. It was a busy day with MYPs from across the Eastern Region attending. Workshops, around public speaking and a debate on whether or not there should be a curfew for young people, were the highlights. And surprisingly enough, some good points were made for both sides! Watch our video below: