The States will vote next week on whether to complete an island-wide survey of children and young people to inform a youth strategy.
It’s being brought to the States as an amendment to the Government Work Plan by Deputies Sally Rochester and Jennifer Strachan, who want to direct Policy & Resources to coordinate the work to carry out a survey involving people aged 5 to 18.
They also want the Youth Commission to be a partner in the work.
They anticipate the costs of the survey and subsequent strategy to be under £100,000.
The benefits of doing so would be to “improve outcomes for young people and amplify their voice in public life” which is “intrinsically linked to wider government priorities, including workforce sustainability, economic participation, community safety, and long-term public service demand,” they said.
Preventative investment in young people could reduce future costs on health, the justice system and social care while retaining people and skills for the workforce, Deputies Rochester and Strachan added.
The pair pointed to local reports including the recent Quality of Life study which showed young people were more likely to report low life satisfaction, low self-esteem and loneliness.
“If we want to address these heartbreaking statistics and give our young people a better quality of life and hope for the future, then we need to act – and to act early,” they said.
Deputies Rochester and Strachan said the Children and Young People’s Plan is too narrow in focusing on welfare and safeguarding and a wider look into how their voices can be amplified and represented in government policies is needed.
They pointed to other jurisdictions to highlight the need for and impact of a youth strategy – with Denmark’s universal youth club offering and New Zealand’s improvement to service coordination for young people held up as positive outcomes.
If deputies back the amendment the States will be tasked with gathering data through surveys and focus groups, analysing the data through the lens of existing services, gaps and lived experiences, and working across committees to draw up objectives and timelines for new policies.
This data could influence the island’s mental health strategy, housing policies and the economic development strategy, they said.