P-04-511 Support for children and young people participation standards – Correspondence from the Petitioner to the Committee, 15.04.2015

Dear Petitions Committee,

Please find powys youth forum response below. 

Kind regards 

Jack Gillum

Powys Youth Forum response to the Petitions Committee

Thank you for the correspondence but from the correspondence we have a number of points which we would like to raise. 

1) We are aware that Children in Wales held a meeting to look at the National Standards and the Kitemarking process. While we are pleased that this meeting took place we are disappointed that we (young people - particularly those young people who are currently trained as young inspectors) were not invited to be involved in this process. Due to timings and location of the meeting unfortunately Powys Participation workers were unable to attend the meeting, though they have shared the minutes of the meeting with Youth Forum members. The minutes do not seem to have a very clear picture of the next steps or a timeline on when things should be happening.

2) The Children in Wales letter dated 17^th November 2014 to William Powell AM states that their work will include

• A process of updating the Standards and kite marking tool in collaboration with participation workers and young people through face to face and electronic means by February 2015…

To our knowledge no work has been done with any young people in relation to this point. The letter also mentions training the trainer’s events on the standards, training for workers on the self-assessment and a National good practice exchange event in June 2015. Other than viewing a copy of this letter we have heard no further information regarding these commitments. 

We would ask that Children in Wales and Welsh Government provide a clear time table as to when this work will be done. We are concerned that there is the potential with this topic for the Welsh Government and partners to loose focus on the topic and it to become another area which is forgotten about.