Isle of Man Guide

Chief Minister Tony Brown has announced today that as part of the ongoing development of the Government Strategic Plan he is to set up a Working Group chaired by Mrs Anne Craine Minister for Education to undertake an investigation into ways to develop and enhance children and young people’s facilities within the community.

It is proposed that the Working Group will consist of a mix of politicians and people from the community and the Group will be required to report to the Chief Minister by July of this year.

The Group will be charged with consulting with the Islands communities including Local Authorities, Churches and of course the young people themselves. The Group will go out into the community to meet with all interested parties.

Mr Brown says:

“The provision of facilities for our young people is an important part of what is provided within our community and whilst we have youth clubs, sports, music and other areas where young people get involved, there has been a decline in recent years in the provision of facilities which have catered for the needs of many of our young people especially those in the age groups between 14 and early 20’s. There are gaps in providing what many young people want and we need to identify the issues and see if government working with other sectors of our community can fill the gap.

“It is not an issue for government alone, it is a community issue. It is also important to ensure that each community is actively involved in this area as it is no less important than providing or supporting the provision of facilities for the rest of the community.”

Mrs Craine said:

“I look forward to undertaking this important task and actively involving and engaging with our young people and the rest of the community. It is important that we fully understand the needs of, and engage meaningfully with, our young people as such involvement can result in reducing some of the problems we see occur on occasions.”

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