Back to work!

This afternoon, the Youth Cabinet held it's first meeting of the term.  The first item on the agenda involved evaluating the twinning youth camp we attended in Mouscron, Belgium at the beginning of August.  We have made a presentation about our trip which we will be presenting to the Vale of Glamorgan Twinning Association to tell them about our experience and to thank them for all their support.

Also on the agenda was the National Assembly for Wales' enquiry into Youth Work which is currently being run by the Children, Young People and Education committee.  We gave our views on youth services in Wales and you too can take part in the survey here.  We also had our say on what we thought of the new Welsh Government Travel Behaviour Code which has been an ongoing piece of work for us since 2014.

It's not long until the next Youth Mayor election which will take place during Local Democracy Week (week commencing 10th October).  This is a busy time for the Youth Cabinet and some of our members are already preparing their manifestos hoping to get your vote to be the next Youth Mayor for 2016-17.  

My year with the Children's Commissioner for Wales

Sally Holland is the Children's Commissioner for Wales and she works young people around Wales and Welsh Government to promote children's rights. I've been heavily involved and have worked closely with the Children Commissioner for Wales office and over the past year and three months.  I have been involved in the recruitment of  Sally Holland and have helped her into her role along with other young people from across Wales. 

So how did it start? 

After the previous Children's Commissioner for Wales, Keith Towler, finished his term, I joined a young persons recruitment panel to find the next Children's Commissioner for Wales.  There were 63 applicants who all wanted the post. That was watered down to 7, and with an adult panel, I and other young people narrowed that down to 5 for interviewing. 

The young persons panel had the opportunity to interview these candidates, and we had our say on who was the best for the role.   After a nail-biting final decision we decided that Sally Holland was the most appropriate. 

We've met up with her since then to give her our viewpoints on how she should work with young people, and she's very proactive when it comes to working with other children and young people around Wales. She will be the Children's Commissioner for Wales for the next 7 years. This process was beneficial for the the young people involved, and it was an incredibly successful piece of work as it was the first time young people were involved in the recruitment process. We also have our first female Children's Commissioner for Wales too.  

Sally has recently launched the areas of work she will be focusing on following her Beth Nesa? What's next? consultation.  Take a look at the video for more information.