In early December a group of young people came to visit the Scottish Parliament from Barra & Uist Youth Council.
Learning Resources Officer Frances Culpin was delighted to welcome them and whilst at Holyrood they took part in a session with her, put questions to MSPs and were also lucky enough to meet with the Presiding Officer. Some of the young people involved in the visit had taken part in Parliament Day Stornoway so this was a great follow-up. Kayleigh Anne O Carroll summarised the experience on behalf of those involved:
'We are from the Barra Youth Council and we went with the Uist Youth Council to visit the Scottish Parliament. Firstly, we met with four MSP's, and we had the opportunity to ask them questions about inter island flights, ferries’ and the 2014 Scottish Independence Referendum. All four MSP's agreed the inter island flights should be re instated and should not have been cut. We then had a tour of the building, and visited First Minister Question Time. This was a great opportunity as we listened and watched the live debates amongst the parties giving us an insight of one of the many roles a First Minister has. We then met with our representative of the Member of the Scottish Youth Parliament. We have learnt more about the Scottish Parliament and had a great opportunity to question MSPs about the referendum; we have now a better idea what we are going to vote for come September 2014.'
Other feedback received from the group was really positive, with comments including:
'I learnt what roles and responsibilities MSPs have'
'because I have seen it for real and in action it has helped me understand things better'
'we got to put our points of view across'
'I realised that our opinions and decisions can make a large impact'
Thank you for coming to visit us, we are glad you found your day fun and informative!