Joint Cabinet and Children and Young People’s Cabinet

Among the items discussed were ideas for future campaigns including road safety awareness, mental health and wellbeing, and skills for life. Work around these themes would involve promoting safety for pupils walking to school; making resources from school counsellors available for young people to access who don’t wish to meet a counsellor face-to-face; and developing workshops around life skills including finance and budgeting that could be delivered by young cabinet members to schools and youth groups.

The meeting was ably chaired by Sarah from St Joseph’s Academy, supported by Vice Chair, Caleb, who is also from St Joseph’s. New members of the Scottish Youth Parliament, David McGilp, who was elected to represent Carrick, Cumnock and Doon Valley, and Morgan McPherson, who was elected to represent Kilmarnock and Irvine Valley, also attended the meeting and set out their priorities for the next two years.

Depute Leader Councillor Jim McMahon, who co-chaired the meeting said: “It is always a pleasure to welcome members of the Children and Young People’s Cabinet to Chambers and to hear their views on such a wide range of topics. They bring fresh ideas and opinions to the table and do a fantastic job of speaking for the all of the young people they represent across East Ayrshire.

“We look forward to working with them on many of the ideas they presented at Cabinet and thank them for all the excellent work they do to make sure that young people’s voices are heard.”

ends