Parliament outreach workshop

The UK Parliament Outreach Team ran a workshop last week for participants on our Youth Employment Skills (YES) programme.

The session was designed to educate and inform young people aged 18-24 on UK Parliament and Government Law and encourage them to vote. The workshop started with a question and answer session covering the roles of parliament and government, and how MPs operate within their constituencies.

This was followed by a session on law and the acts in place that affect young people in particular. Participants were challenged to think of ideas for new laws and discuss the potential barriers they might face in getting that law passed.

There were some great ideas for new laws that sparked lots of interesting debate, including: free travel for people aged under 21; higher pay for apprentices; a quota around the number of young workers per company to reduce youth unemployment; and last but not least, free 15” pizzas for everyone!

YES Employment Adviser Wilson Reid was pleased with how the session went:

“One of the important things about going into a job is that you understand things like British values, democracy, respect for others and freedom of speech.”

“In the workplace, we find it easier if we respect other people’s differences, and the rights we have to be different are enshrined in the law, which dictates our rights at work.

“Today’s session was engaging and informative, and I hope it helped our young participants to understand the laws that protect them as they prepare to enter employment.”

YES is a free support service for 18-24 year olds living in London. The programme is aimed particularly at young people who may experience extra barriers to finding suitable employment.