All Party Group on Children and Young People
Each month an all-party group of MLAs gets together to discuss the needs of children and young people. Dawn Purvis explains its work.
“It’s a no-brainer from my point of view. The more informed I am, the more knowledgeable I am,” remarks Dawn Purvis.
Her role as Chair of the All-Party Group on Children and Young People, she believes, has helped in many aspects of her constituency work as well as her wider work as an MLA.
When devolution was restored in 2007, Purvis was asked by the community and voluntary sector to join the group to help tackle many of the problems facing children and young people in the province.
All-party groups allow MLAs from different parties to meet and discuss shared interests in particular subjects. While membership of a group is limited to MLAs, organisations and individuals from outside the Assembly often attend meetings to give information and support their work.
The groups do not, however, have any of the powers of an Assembly committee and cannot directly influence policy.
The MLA has strong views on many issues but is particularly passionate about children and young people: “A lot of the time children and young people’s voices are absent from legislation and policy. Having their voices heard is crucially important. I think hearing from young people themselves is what will improve their quality of life and the policies and legislation that come out of the Assembly.”
Purvis says that the contribution of these organisations is “second-to-none” in providing politicians with in-depth knowledge on certain topics. “A five- minute presentation, for example, on the issues affecting children and young people, better informs us on how they impact on the lives of children and young people. This helps us to look at policy to improve quality of life, look at legislation and government strategies,” she comments.
The knowledge gained through the all- party group is also a big advantage when dealing with everyday work. Purvis states: “It helps very much in my constituency work. Having those contacts when it comes to dealing with constituents who have very complex problems, you have a network of community and voluntary organisations there that can help at the touch of a button and that’s really important.”
One of the highlights of Purvis’ year was a meeting with Welsh Assembly Member and Budget Committee Chair Helen Mary Jones. The group was very interested in
learning about policy the government has introduced on children’s budgeting: “They are looking right across their departments in the Welsh Assembly to segregate spend on children and holding the different ministers to account to see where the money is being spent and what the outcomes are.”
As an analysis tool would show “quite clearly where we’re falling down”. After talks with the two OFMDFM junior ministers, the matter has now been put on the agenda for the next ministerial subcommittee meeting on children and young people.
According to Purvis, there is a long list of problems facing children and young people in Northern Ireland but some of the most pressing concerns are community safety, the draft Budget, the youth justice review and educational under- achievement.
While she has noticed short-term benefits of her membership on the all-party group, Purvis argues that there will be “longer- term and strategic benefits” as MLAs will be better informed when making important decisions on policy and legislation.
The secretariat for the group is Children in Northern Ireland.
