Evaluation of a RIGHT blether - York Consulting

Scotland’s Commissioner for Children and Young PeopleEvaluation of a RIGHT bletherFigure 7: Views on the VOTE Element of a RIGHT blether“The questions were closed and too simple. The questions were not well explained to us.”(Secondary age young person)“We should have had more information on what we were voting for” (Secondary age young person)“It didn’t seem to make robust enough links with the issues the children were really interested in.”(LA rep);“The questions in the VOTE could be better designed to actually capture the views of children andyoung people in more tangible ways – the areas were so broad it is difficult to use the vote toinfluence policy.” (LA rep)“It would be more effective if young people could be more involved in running and participating inthe events where Tam is involved.” (LA rep)“It’s more effective when young people are actively involved in running the activities: setting up theballot boxes, creating posters. They also respond better to their peers.” (Secondary school teacher)2.24 Young people felt that more could have been done to make the questionsrelevant to them. They were unaware that a consultation exercise had beenheld with children and young people before the voting cards were producedto generate question topics they voted on. 185 topics were identifiedthrough a range of events that included: the Scottish Youth Parliament’s‘Picture the Change’ consultation; the creation of a Children’s Manifesto bythe Children’s Parliament; the ‘Hear Me’ Youth Debate, part of the 2010Festival of Politics; and during the MEET element of a RIGHT blether. Thesetopics were narrowed down to the final voting choices by a group of youngpeople who considered and prioritised issues against key criteria includingrelevancy, level of understanding to children and young people and actionswhich the Commissioner could prioritise and achieve within the timeframeof the Commissioner’s strategic workplan 2011-2015.22