Meeting of the Parliament

Meeting date: Wednesday, December 7, 2022

Official Report 1069KB pdf

---

#IWill Week 2022

The final item of business is a members’ business debate on motion S6M-06631, in the name of Jackie Dunbar, on #iwill week 2022. The debate will be concluded without any question being put. I ask members who wish to speak in the debate to press their request-to-speak buttons.

Motion debated,

That the Parliament recognises #IWill Week 2022, which takes place from 21 to 25 November; understands that the #IWill movement is part of a UK-wide initiative, which aims to bring together the wealth of youth volunteering, fundraising, campaigning and mentoring that young people are doing to benefit others, the environment and the causes that they believe in; further understands that Youthlink, the charity behind this movement, looks to put a spotlight on the issues that it believes are affecting young people, notably with its annual conference on 8 November 2022 being focused on youth work and poverty, and wishes #IWillScotland all the best for its upcoming week, bringing awareness to the young people actively making a change.

17:46  

I am pleased to be able to bring to the chamber this members’ debate, which celebrates the hard work and commitment of the young folk across Scotland during #iwill week. I thank colleagues from all sides of the chamber who have supported my motion, thereby allowing us this evening to highlight the volunteers and young people across Scotland who are making a positive change in their communities.

The #iwill week was established in 2013 and brought together 50 young people who wanted to make a difference in their community with 50 organisations that could help them to achieve their goals. The #iwill week now reaches more than 700 young #iwill ambassadors and more than 1,000 organisations, and this year it took place from 21 to 25 November.

It has the aim of shedding light on the challenges that are faced by young activists and change makers, as well as helping to encourage meaningful conversations among all those who work in the youth work sector on how they can continue to support youth social action into 2023. From primary schools to a clinical commissioning group in Barrow-in-Furness, and from FTSE companies to Government departments, the #iwill movement has gone from strength to strength.

However, challenges lie ahead, including poverty, the climate emergency, worsening mental health and wellbeing, social and economic inequalities and racial injustice. Challenges that existed before the Covid-19 crisis have been exacerbated by the global pandemic, and the future has never felt more uncertain. This is why #iwill week is so vital: it provides a platform through which young people can truly influence change.

Social action is about people coming together to improve their lives and solve the problems that are important in their communities. It can include volunteering, donating money, taking community action or undertaking simple neighbourly acts. Through the commitment and skill of citizens, social action can empower communities and help people in need. Taking part in social action is associated with higher levels of wellbeing and can improve folks’ confidence and skills. It is often reported to be the catalyst for people becoming involved in local democracy and national politics, which are areas where we need more diversity.

Our ambition as a country is to be a democratic and welcoming nation. To do that, we need to empower our communities to take more ownership of the decisions that are made and we need to empower folk to have influence over their lives and outcomes. Social action is important at a young age. Young folk should grow up influencing decisions and their communities in ways that will shape their futures and spaces to make a positive difference.

The #iwill week is one way of celebrating the young folk across the country who are involved in social action and are striving to make their communities better for all young people, as well as seeking to see and make changes to policies that might impact on young folk at local and national levels.

Research suggests that high-quality activities meet six principles. They will be youth-led, they will be challenging, they will have a social impact, they will allow for progression to other opportunities, they will be embedded in a young person’s life and they will enable reflection on the value of the activity. The higher the quality of the social action, the more likely it is to benefit both the young folk involved and the communities or causes that they are trying to help.

I give a quick shout-out and my personal thanks to Cian Gullen for the help that she has provided for me with this topic. Cian recently marked her sixth year as an #iwill ambassador. In those years, she has worked with YouthLink as co-chair of the #iwill advisory group and has been involved in a lot of the planning of #iwill events in Scotland, as well as helping to ensure that the movement remains youth led. She has worked with other #iwill ambassadors and other young people to help to progress the #YouthVIP recommendations to make volunteering more accessible to young people across Scotland. She is a true advocate for social change and I know that others take inspiration from her work.

I end by strongly encouraging all members to promote the remarkable work of #iwill and the #iwill ambassadors in helping to make change not only for young people but for the wider communities that we represent. It is important that we recognise the incredible work of young people across our communities and regions and right across Scotland.

Without being clichéd, I can say that children and young people are our future. We must enable them to lead the way, listen to their views and support them to bring about meaningful social change. I ask the minister for a commitment that the Government will build on its record in that regard and will continue to support the advance of youth democracy and social change.

17:51  

I apologise for my late arrival in the chamber.

I thank Jackie Dunbar for lodging the motion recognising #iwill week 2022, which is an opportunity to recognise the important role of youth volunteering, campaigning and mentoring in communities, neighbourhoods, towns and families.

As she has outlined, #iwill has grown over the years and #iwill Scotland, supported by YouthLink Scotland, brings together more than 100 youth organisations from across the country and supports a wide range of work and initiatives that enable young people to drive social change. They include celebration of international volunteers day, the work of the Scottish Youth Parliament on a variety of issues to ensure that young people’s rights are upheld, and work to support young carers and young adult carers by ensuring that they can participate in a survey to find out about the pressures that they face and the support that they need.

I am delighted to see that there is a focus on disability. I have been working closely with an inspiring young constituent who is passionate about driving forward disability rights through important issues such as relaxed theatre performances and quiet times in shopping centres for young people who are living with autism. I thank her very much for her commitment and drive on that issue.

I am old enough—sadly—to have had the privilege of doing my own bit with young people, and I spent many years as a volunteer with the Aberdeen open awards centre supporting the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme and as a child protection officer for Aberdeen Grammar Rugby. Those were very different roles with one thing in common: they helped children and young people to reach their potential, to step out of their comfort zones, to build confidence and resilience and just to have fun in a safe space.

My son was a scout for many years, and now, as an adult, he looks back on the experiences and opportunities that the scouts gave him in team building, problem solving, being pushed out of his comfort zone, cooking and even dealing with homesickness. I have absolutely no doubt that all that made him the person he is today.

Not all children and young people are given the opportunities that they deserve. Many find themselves facing circumstances, experiences or environments that are difficult and challenging to navigate. It is therefore imperative that barriers and obstacles be removed so that they can achieve their potential and have good and fulfilling lives.

The focus and support that #iwill provides in that effort is pivotal. I was pleased to note that the key themes that were explored in #iwill week 2022 included working together on what we need to learn about working across sectors, how young people can shape a place, how we can create genuinely enabling environments for young people, and the role of funders in all of that. Those are important themes and questions, and they are ones that all of us, collectively, must be invested in answering in our respective roles. I very much hope that the outcomes of that week of celebration of and focus on young people provide the #iwill movement with a platform to take forward its work right across Scotland.

I again thank Jackie Dunbar for bringing the debate to Parliament. I want to end with a few words that I often used to remind my family of how valued they were: “What you are looking for is already in you. You are already everything you need to be.” Let us never forget that.

17:56  

I thank Jackie Dunbar for bringing the debate to Parliament this evening. We were councillors together at Aberdeen City Council, and we are now MSPs together. We rarely agree in debates, but I am glad that we can today.

“Young people are part of society. They deserve to be heard because they are here, and they exist in the present. They are not just the future and the decisions made in Scotland and the UK affect young people today.”

Those are not my words; they are the words of an #iwill ambassador from Aberdeen. We are fortunate to have so many young people who are willing to come forward and be heard. As a Parliament, we should be doing more to listen to their voices and to hear their views on topics that affect us all.

We are lucky to have a vibrant Youth Parliament, and perhaps we should be doing more to strengthen the links between the Scottish Parliament and the Scottish Youth Parliament. As elected representatives, we have the privilege of welcoming school groups into our workplace. I know that, for many of us, it is the highlight of our week. Young people have important things to say about our democracy, our policies and the issues that we discuss, and they often ask the unexpected questions that others dare not ask.

#iwill week is all about a celebration of those young people who get involved. It celebrates the social action that our young people take part in, and it commends the huge amount of volunteering that young people do and the difference that they make throughout Scotland.

Figures from Volunteer Scotland show that, far from declining, volunteering among our young people is increasing. At 49 per cent, youth volunteer participation is double the rate of participation by adult volunteers, which sits at 26 per cent. Seventeen per cent of young people who do not volunteer say that they will in the future. In the past decade, formal volunteering has grown from 33 per cent to 49 per cent. Girls are more likely to volunteer than boys. Our young people are active and vital members of our volunteering communities in Scotland.

#iwill week also encourages organisations and governing bodies to commit to young people and their participation in social action and decision making. We want young people to be more engaged in how policy is made at all levels of our society. It gives me an enormous sense of pride to know that a policy convention that will take place tomorrow in Aberdeen, my home city, will be attended by more than 200 young people. They will discuss the role of youth work as a rights respecting and rights promoting practice. Young people are key to enabling social action that will be the catalyst for change that young people will ultimately drive. I think that, as parliamentarians, we should invite them to come here to present the outcomes of that conference to us.

I would like to add my thanks to the many youth organisations and youth workers throughout Scotland who are passionate about working with young people. YouthLink Scotland, which is leading the #iwill week in Scotland, does an incredible amount of work to build and strengthen our network of youth work. Youth work does, indeed, change lives. I know that colleagues will join me in congratulating Angela Leitch on her appointment as chair of that organisation just this week.

In closing, I once again pay tribute to our young people. We could all learn from, and emulate, their ambition, vibrancy, hopefulness and commitment to helping others. They are, indeed, part of today’s Scotland and we are a far richer country as a result.

18:00  

It is a pleasure to take part in this debate. I extend my thanks to Jackie Dunbar. It is fascinating that the debate follows on from our earlier debate, because this one allows us to highlight some of the real strengths that our young people can show us oldies. The desire through the #iwill movement for young people to fight for their cause is no stronger than in relation to climate change and democracy. The #iwill movement aims to lead us to listen to young people.

Douglas Lumsden categorised it brilliantly when he said that young people sometimes ask questions that throw even adults. I would go further and say that, actually, young people sometimes have the solutions that we are perhaps too narrow-minded to see. It is important that we open up the opportunity to listen properly to young people and that we do not hide behind tick-box exercises in which we just say, “Yes, we have spoken to them,” and then move on. We should speak to and listen to them, and say that we want them to be part of the change that affects their lives.

The #iwill movement also asks organisations to pledge their support. That is an opportunity for organisations to walk the walk as well as talk the talk and pledge to support our young people, particularly at this challenging time as we move into a period of poverty the likes of which many living people in this country have never seen before and perhaps have only read about. We have a huge tsunami coming our way, and we need to involve young people in the solutions to that and in the discussions, because their ideas can sometimes help us oldies, as I said.

I also echo Douglas Lumsden’s thanks to Angela Leitch, whom I know well from her East Lothian past. I know that she will be a passionate advocate for young people. She will ensure that young people have a say at the table or, indeed, perhaps just in a library or in a walk outside, so that they can express their ideas, opinions and views in a way that they feel comfortable with. It is a massive idea to invite those from Aberdeen to make their proposals here—perhaps in the chamber or wherever in the Parliament they feel most comfortable doing so—and to hold us politicians to account.

I know that time is short and that there was huge support for the motion, but I cannot end without extending my thanks to the young people themselves, and I would like to pick up on one aspect of volunteering that is important for members to note. I also look to the minister for ideas on how we can improve the situation. With formal volunteering, the group of young people who come from the hardest-hit families in areas of the highest deprivation in the Scottish index of multiple deprivation are often the least likely to formally volunteer. I am thinking about the scout, cub and girl guide movements and other volunteering opportunities. Interestingly, statistics show that young people in that group are also most likely to just volunteer to help their friend, neighbour or community.

There is no requirement for everyone to formally volunteer, but productive work could be done to try to work out why the young people from those backgrounds are particularly challenged when it comes to formal volunteering, from which often flow great benefits and ideas. It is clear that the passion to volunteer and help and the passion for answers already exist. I would therefore be interested, at the end of this debate and after that, to hear what consideration has been given to bridging the gap between accidental volunteering and more formal volunteering, which is much easier to recognise in statistics and data.

I again thank Jackie Dunbar for bringing the debate to the chamber. We are talking about the most important people in our society. #iwill week has shown what they can really offer, and it is for us oldies to listen to them.

I call the minister, Jamie Hepburn, to respond to the debate.

18:04  

I begin by joining others to thank Jackie Dunbar for securing this debate and allowing us to collectively have this opportunity to recognise #iwill week 2022. I also thank colleagues for their contributions this evening, although I put it firmly on the record that I dissociate myself from Martin Whitfield’s characterisation of us as “oldies”.

This has been a very valuable, albeit short, debate. #iwill week is an important initiative for recognising the volunteering, fundraising, campaigning and mentoring work that young people are doing to benefit others. YouthLink Scotland, of course, deserves a mention for its activity in that regard. I have the highest respect for that organisation; I engage and work with it regularly; and I give my thanks to Tim Frew for his leadership as its chief executive. I welcome Angela Leitch to her role, too, and I think it important that we also place on record our thanks to Lorna Hood, who has made a massive contribution to public life in Scotland in general, but not least in her role as chair of YouthLink Scotland over the past six years.

We must also thank the many thousands of people who volunteer or work in the youth work sector and who provide support and opportunities for young people to engage through the medium of youth work. We have heard many examples of that tonight, and they exist right across the country.

As a Government, we value the kindness and generosity of volunteers, who are continuing to make a difference in our communities across the country. We recognise through #iwill week that the massive contribution made by our young people who choose to volunteer and make a difference is having a positive impact, is improving the lives of individuals and communities and is making Scotland a better place.

Scotland’s volunteering action plan, which was launched in June, aims to create a Scotland in which everyone can volunteer more often and throughout their lives. That includes supporting young people to volunteer, should they want to. In that respect, Martin Whitfield made a fair point about trying to extend the opportunities to ensure that the fullest and widest range of young people can take part in volunteering, no matter their background. As we take forward our youth work strategy, a focal point for us will be to consider how we better reach out and involve more young people.

Given the current situation, we should observe how volunteers have been at the front line of the response to the Covid-19 pandemic and how they are now forming a critical part of the response to the cost of living crisis that we are facing. As we will all have seen in the communities that we represent, volunteers have provided a range of support, and young people have been a critical part of that activity.

The motion that Ms Dunbar has lodged and that we are debating this evening talks about the work to tackle the poverty that young people are experiencing. We know that the current situation is having a real impact on families living in poverty, and we know its implications for our young people. In March, we published our second tackling child poverty delivery plan, “Best Start, Bright Futures”, which sets out the range of our ambitions and the set of actions that we will be taking over the next four years and beyond to tackle poverty.

It is all part of our ambition to make Scotland the best place in the world for a child to grow up in. After all, the national outcome for children and young people is that children

“grow up loved, safe and respected”

so that they reach

“their full potential.”

In March 2021, we collectively took a step in that direction when we, as a Parliament, unanimously passed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (Incorporation) (Scotland) Bill, which is, I think, an important part of the landscape of youth work, as it enables young people and children to express themselves and have their voices heard. That is, of course, a fundamentally important right that they have.

I have no intention of sounding a note of discord, minister, but, on the issue of UNCRC incorporation, do we have a date for when the matter will return to the chamber for reconsideration?

The Deputy First Minister has set out to Parliament how we intend to take that forward. The matter will be brought back, but I am afraid that I cannot give specific information about that, because I am not leading on it. However, I will make sure that the member’s question is picked up and, if there is information that I can convey to Mr Whitfield, I will be happy to do so.

The Scottish Youth Parliament was mentioned by Audrey Nicoll and Douglas Lumsden, and there is also the Children’s Parliament. They are an important part of the landscape of youth but are also an important conduit for young people to come forward and set out their opinions and views about the world that we live in. Douglas Lumsden made that point effectively when he quoted the #iwill ambassador from Aberdeen. We have to think about young people in terms not just of the contribution that they can make in the future but the contribution that they can make here and now. Their voices should be heard, and I assure all members that those organisations are an effective mechanism for communicating the voices of young people to the Scottish Government.

I will return to the issue of the youth work strategy. We want to ensure that we continue to reap the benefits of the extraordinary activity of the youth work sector. Jackie Dunbar asked us to restate the importance of youth empowerment, and that is why I say that it is important that we take forward the development of a new youth work strategy. That is very much designed to improve outcomes for young people through a stronger and better-connected system that offers opportunities to promote equality and equity and is inclusive of the needs of all young people.

Our vision is for every young person to realise their full potential regardless of their background and circumstances. Youth work can play a critically important role in that regard, and my aim is that the youth work strategy will better enable that to happen.

We must actively give young people the confidence that their voices will be heard. Therefore, let us keep speaking to young people in partnership to ensure that we represent their views in Parliament on the issues that matter most to them.

Meeting closed at 18:12.