Local Democracy Week - 16-20 October 2006
Take Part Take Power
What is Local Democracy Week?
Local Democracy Week is a national event to help young people aged between 11 and 26 become more involved with decision-making and planning at a local level. This year’s theme is "take part, take power."
What did Torfaen County Borough Council do?
This year Torfaen County Borough Council held a Youth Cabinet. Many young people from Torfaen schools and other organisations had previously been to observe a real Cabinet meeting, but this was their opportunity to try it on for size!
We invited 10 young people (a couple from each school/ college/ youth organisation) from year 11 to attend a Youth Cabinet meeting. Mixing and matching helped to ensure a good spread across the borough and enabled the young people to network and share their experiences with young people from other schools. We had 3 pupils from Croesyceiliog School, 4 pupils from Fairwater School, 2 pupils from West Monmouthshire School and a representative from Torfaen Young People’s Forum sitting as Executive Members on the Cabinet.
As the Chamber can hold up to 100 people, we invited other young people who weren’t acting as the Youth Cabinet to attend and observe and they were also given the opportunity to provide their views on the event.
The Event
A ‘real’ Cabinet took place on Tuesday 17th October at 10.30am and the Youth Cabinet took place on Friday 20th October 2006 at 10am.
The event started with an introduction from the Head of Democracy and the election of the Youth Cabinet Leader. Three candidates stood for the position of leader and introduced themselves to the rest of the Cabinet Members explaining why they should be elected as leader. A secret exhaustive ballot was held and Jamie Worth of Fairwater School was elected as Leader for the day and did a brilliant job of chairing the meeting.
The Youth Cabinet members were:
Fairwater School:
Matthew Price
Amy Griff
Tara Morgan
Jamie Worth
Croesyceiliog School
Ahisa Choudhury
Ben Lewis
Hannah Thomas
TYPF Representative
Ed Weekes
West Mon School
David Cleverly
Kirstey Davies
The ‘real’ Deputy Leader welcomed everyone to the meeting in the unfortunate absence of the Leader who was held up in traffic. The Youth Cabinet meeting was observed by
the Deputy Leader - Councillor Lewis Jones, Councillor Marlene Thomas (Executive Member for Resources) and Councillor John Turner (Executive Member for Children & Young People) and the Leader – Councillor Bob Wellington as soon as he was able.
The Youth Cabinet followed the same format as the formal Cabinet meeting and it followed the same agenda, with the same officers presenting reports. The Youth Cabinet had the opportunity to discuss the items in the same way that Executive Members do at normal Cabinet and made the necessary decisions.
At the end of the Youth Cabinet the Senior Democratic Services Officer compared the minutes of the real Cabinet with the outcomes of the Youth Cabinet. Interestingly the Youth Cabinet made exactly the same decisions as the real Cabinet in all but one area. The real Executive Members commented how well the youth cabinet had been run, in particular complimenting the Youth Executive on their grasp of the topic areas.
Once the Youth Cabinet was concluded all the young people, officers and Executive Members mingled, discussing the event over a light buffet lunch. It was felt that the Youth Cabinet had been a huge success and an event which should be repeated.
Want to know More?
If you want to know more about what Torfaen County Borough Council are doing to open democracy in the borough or if you want to know more about Local Democracy Week in particular contact Dana Eynon on 01495 766072 or use the contact form on right of this page to send a secure message.