The purpose of this meeting is to enable members of the Council and young people to meet and discuss those issues that are important to young people in Wirral today.  Details of the agenda for the youth parliament event are attached.

Before the commencement of the Youth Parliament in the Council Chamber a performance was given by members of Wirral Youth Theatre in the Civic Hall.

The young people and Councillors assembled in the Council Chamber at 6.15 pm. The Mayor welcomed the young people and thanked Maureen McDaid, Principal Manager, CYPD Planning & Resources Branch Commissioning/Participation, her team and the officers for organising the event. The Mayor explained the purpose of the evening and gave a brief outline of proceedings. The Mayor then invited Upton Hall to present their proposal.

The following proposal was put by Upton Hall’s Proposer, Leah Simpkin:

In light of the Olympic success should there be more sporting provision easily available to the young people of Wirral?

Upton Hall’s Opposing proposal was put by Jessica Kelly.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The Upton Hall seconder Janine Lewis then closed the debate.

The proposal was put and lost (14:38).

The following proposal was put by Prenton High Schools Proposer, Courtney Needler:

We propose that in all Wirral parks, there should be either an internet café or wi-fi café so that young people can meet and have access to these facilities after schools and at the weekends.  We believe that through being available to the wider community these facilities will increase the number of people currently visiting the parks.

Prenton High Schools Opposing proposal was put by Hannah Cook.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The Prenton High School seconder Rosie Trickett then closed the debate.

The proposal was put and lost (6:52).

The following proposal was put by the Oldershaw Proposer, Megan Jones:

We believe that because of the current economic climate and the increase of university fees more young academic young people are opting for apprenticeships, this is resulting in young people with less than 5 A-Cs at GCSE are being denied an employment option.  Therefore we call on Wirral Council to guarantee that employment opportunities for young people will be guaranteed in any Wirral Council regeneration contracts and there will be a guarantee of 25% of jobs created by these contracts will be for apprenticeships for young people.

Oldershaw’s Opposing proposal was put by Charles Heath.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The Oldershaw seconder Ryan Barker then closed the debate.

The proposal was put and carried (36:20).

The following proposal was put by Birkenhead Academy for Girls Proposer, Annapreet Bhullar:

“Where there are areas of lower average life expectancy, this is due to lifestyle choices”.

Birkenhead Academy for GirlsOpposing proposal was put by George Anderson.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The proposal was put and lost (8:42).

Councillor Geoffrey Watt sought advice from the Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management regarding Declarations of Interest for the following item. The Acting Director of Law, HR and Asset Management advised that this was a matter for members themselves to decide. Councillor Geoffrey Watt then declared a prejudicial interest in the following item by virtue of being a serving member of the Council and indicated that he would withdraw from meeting during this debate.

Councillor Watt having declared a prejudicial interest left the meeting whilst this item was considered.

The following proposal was put by Wirral Youth Theatre’s Proposer, Nichole Buntain:

Public Services like Youth Services on Wirral provide support for young people who need it.  The message we are now getting is that services have to be more targeted and only work with young people who need very intensive and what will be expensive support.  We understand that there is less money but if youth services like Wirral Youth Theatre and Pilgrim Street Arts Centre are cut, more young people will eventually need more resources and this will cost more in the long run.  We have been told “we are all in this together”, therefore we are proposing to Council that MPs, Councillors and Officers should have their expenses cut to help save the services that young people really need and value.

Wirral Youth Theatre’s Opposing proposal was put by Lauren Pierce.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The Wirral Youth Theatre seconder Tanya Thomas then closed the debate.

The proposal was put and lost (22:11) (48 abstentions)

Councillor Geoffrey Watt returned to the meeting

The following proposal was put by Wirral Grant Panel Proposer, Charlotte Knaggs:

In light of the recent shooting of police officers in Manchester, should all police officers be armed with guns?  We ask Wirral Council through its’ representatives on the Police Authority, to convey to the members of the Police Authority the result of the vote in this debate.

Wirral Grant Panel Opposing proposal was put by Katie Everson.

The debate was then opened to Councillors and young people for their contributions.

The Wirral Grant Panel seconder Rikki Killen then closed the debate.

The proposal was put and lost (7:45).

The debate concluded with speeches from the party groups (Councillors Harney, Wendy Clements and Phil Davies) who paid tribute to the young people and thanked them for the very high standard of the debate. The young people were also encouraged to offer suggestions to improve the Youth Parliament next time.

The Mayor closed the meeting by thanking all those present for their participation. He thanked the party groups, Maureen McDaid and the staff of the Youth Service for enabling this Parliament and the young people for their attendance and contributions to the debate.