The Scottish Youth Parliament (SYP) (Scottish Gaelic: Pàrlamaid Òigridh na h-Alba) is a youth-led, democratic organisation which aims to represent the young people of Scotland.
The SYP is made up of around 166 democratically elected representatives aged 14–25 from across Scotland.[1][2] Representatives are known as Members of the Scottish Youth Parliament (MSYPs). The SYP uses the Scottish Parliamentary constituency structure to elect its members, with elections generally taking place every two years - every constituency area elects two MSYPs using the Single Transferable Vote electoral system. Over 71,000 votes were cast in the 2019 SYP elections.
Around 22 MSYPs represent Voluntary Organisations such as The Boys Brigade, Scouts Scotland, LGBT Youth Scotland and Haggeye instead of constituencies. These MSYPs are directly elected by the Organisations they represent.
The SYP meets three times a year at events called sittings. These usually take place in different Scottish Local Authorities, but were held online between 2020 and 2022 due to COVID-19. SYP returned to in-person sittings in July 2022 with SYP77 being held in Cumbernauld[3]
The four core values of the SYP are rights, democracy, inclusion and political impartiality. SYP is non-party political, which means MSYPs do not organise themselves along party lines within the Youth Parliament. All MSYPs essentially sit as independents to avoid partisan politics interfering with their representation of young people.
Campaigns
The SYP campaigns on various issues which affect Scotland's young people.[4]
It has been an advocate for Votes at 16 since its inception in 1999 and has campaigned for it ever since, notably ensuring that Young People aged 16 and 17 could vote in the Referendum on Scottish Independence in 2014.[5]
SYP has campaigned on a range of issues: from its campaign to achieve Equal Marriage – Love Equally - to their Young Carers Campaign – Care. Fair. Share.
SYP's 2017-18 campaign - Right Here Right Now[6] - centred on improving the protection of young people's rights in Scotland, and was successful in securing a commitment from the First Minister, Nicola Sturgeon, that the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC) would be incorporated into Scots Law.
The Scottish Youth Parliament's 2018–2019 campaign was "All Aboard",[7] which sought to improve young people's experiences of public transport in Scotland.
At the July 2019 Sitting of the Scottish Youth Parliament, MSYPs choose environmental protection and climate change as their next national campaign. The campaign was named "Pack it Up, Pack it In",[8] and was formally launched in October 2019.
In October 2020, it was decided by the organisation that the next national campaign will focus on a rights-based approach to the COVID-19 Pandemic recovery in Scotland. This campaign was titled 'Bounce Back'.[9]
In March 2022 MSYPs voted on 4 campaign priorities for the 2021-2023 membership. The four campaign priorities were; Right to Food, Climate Crisis, Educational Attainment and Drug Misuse as a Public Health Issue.[10]
Governance
The Board are responsible for the strategic direction of the organisation and are officially the charity's legal custodians.[11]
The charity is supported by a Staff Team of 11.[12]
The current chief executive officer and company general secretary is Jamie Dunlop.[13]
As the organisation is youth-led the chair, vice-chair and trustees are young people. They are democratically elected during SYP's Annual General Meeting by the membership of that term.[14] The Current Chair is Mollie McGoran MSYP, and the current vice-chair is Ellie Craig MSYP. The board of trustees consists of the chair, Vice-chair, and; Crisantos Ike MSYP,[15] Beau Johnston MSYP, Emma Prach MSYP,[16] Marcus Flucker MSYP, and Olivia Brown MSYP.[17] Daniel Molloy served as Convener's Trustee between March 2023 and September 2023.[18] Following his resignation, Abbie Wright MSYP was re-appointed as Convener's Trustee, having previously held the position on the 2022/2023 board.
Current SYP Board
Name
Constituency
Board Role
Portfolio
Mollie McGoran MSYP
Inverness and Nairn
Chair
Local Authorities, National Voluntary Organisations and Partners[19]
The group has previously held meetings in the General Assembly Rooms (former temporary home of the Scottish Parliament) in Edinburgh[27]) and also within the new Scottish Parliament building.,[28] most recently in 2017.
Partner organisations
The Scottish Youth Parliament works in partnership with many other organisations, including:
The Chair of SYP is elected, usually annually, by MSYPs.[29]
A normal term of service is twelve months, although some Chairs have served for longer periods of time for reasons such as a delay in the SYP elections, and some for shorter periods of time for reasons such as resignation.
The Chair of SYP is a voluntary position and is unpaid.
The chair convenes and facilitates meetings of the Board and the full Scottish Youth Parliament. They are the primary ambassador of SYP to the public.
There have, to date, been 21 Chairs of SYP since 2000.
Number
Years of Office
Name
Constituency/Voluntary Organisation
Notes
1
2000 - 2001
Steven Jack
STUC Youth Committee
First officially noted Chair of the Scottish Youth Parliament,
First of three Chairs representing a voluntary organisation
