Youthforia - The North West's own youth forum (From Messenger Newspapers)

Youthforia - The North West's own youth forum

2:51pm Wednesday 9th May 2012 in Trafford Youth Cabinet By Sarah Alvi

Sunday. It’s this time of the month again where yet another Youthforia meeting is held, this time in Oldham. We were told that we were going to be focusing on Job Opportunities and that later on, a Question Time debate would commence with guest speakers. The first session on the morning was about the Young People’s services draft made by the Government. We then answered questions about Young People’s services and what our opinions were.

I heard interesting stories about some youth councils being completely cut and others were just about managing. I realised how lucky Trafford were; how our youth cabinet and young people’s services are protected. We had a chance to draw some questions for our guest speakers for the debate later on.

We had lunch which absolutely delicious! After lunch, we proceeded with the debate which included Paul Atchinson, ex-MYP for Wirral, who is now an elected Councillor! Others were councillors of Oldham, and 2 young people who are currently on the Youthforia Select Committee. There were some interesting questions to which had great responses by the panel.

One of the members on the panel raised a point about youth unemployment being linked with ‘poor financial education’. Out of interest, I tweeted my MP Kate Green (Stretford and Urmston) asking her whether she thought financial education should be compulsory for young people, to which she replied ‘I am in favour. Young people need good financial skills.’ Shereen Patel

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