Centrepoint launches youth parliament
Centrepoint has launched its first youth parliament to campaign on issues affecting homeless young people.
Fourteen Centrepoint service users have been elected as members of the parliament by 800 of their peers. They will highlight issues affecting homeless young people through a range of means, including lobbying MPs and speaking in schools.
The youth parliament was launched at a reception in the speaker’s rooms of the House of Commons last night. Speaker John Bercow hosted the reception.
Seyi Obakin, chief executive of Centrepoint, said: ‘[The youth parliament] gives a marginalised group in society the chance to speak up and be heard by those with the power to influence the issues that really matter to them.’
One of the issues the parliament wants to campaign on is the scrapping of the education maintenance allowance, which Centrepoint says will mean a 37 per cent loss of money for young people to live on. This helps pay for items such as food, clothing and course fees for those who want to develop skills or qualifications.
Centrepoint is calling on the government to replace the allowance with another payment that takes into account the benefits the EMA brought to young people.
The youth parliament will ask Simon Hughes, who was appointed the government’s advocate for its higher education policy last month, to ensure a suitable replacement system is developed.
The Big Lottery Fund has given Centrepoint £480,000 over five years for the youth parliament. The corporate sponsor is bank HSBC.
The elections took play in May last year in every London borough and in the north east where Centrepoint has services.
