Lower Sixth student Liam Velani discusses his role in Harrow Youth Parliament, where he has been representing young people for five years.

Harrow Youth Parliament is a council-run organisation primarily focused on representing the young people in Harrow and ensuring their issues and problems are debated and then solved.

I ran as John Lyon’s representative in Year 7 and have been a member ever since.

We meet weekly on a Wednesday, where we discuss representation from our schools and plan local campaigns. We have numerous sub-groups which focus on certain policy areas, and I have been able to work on the Children’s Centre Committee and latterly I have served as the Vice-Chairman of the Environmental Committee.

The organisation is led by the executive, who are elected annually at the AGM, and are represented at the national UK Youth Parliament events by the elected MYPs. During the first few years of my time at Harrow Youth Parliament, I had the privilege of going on trips to the House of Commons and taking part in the Harrow Regeneration Consultation. These have been amazing opportunities to get directly involved in the work of the the council and lobbying officials on behalf of our youth electorate.

My role as a member of Harrow Youth Parliament is to represent your opinions and views, ensuring they are effectively discussed and implemented. As such, if you have any issues or problems with the Borough, or would simply like to raise some ideas for improvements, please contact me (via School email for pupils) and I will raise them at my next meeting.