North Yorkshire's members of the UK Youth Parliament travelled to Northern Ireland recently for a four-day summit to talk about the most pressing issues for young people. Matthew Dwindle from Harrogate, Rose Corrigan from Selby and Ben Lacey from Richmond who have been elected by North Yorkshire Youth Council joined over 300 other UK Youth Parliament members at the University of Ulster to join in debates on the environment, education, health and crime. This was the first time the UK Youth Parliament had met in Northern Ireland.

They were also given the chance to question John Brow, Speaker of the House of Commons and Tim Houghton, Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Education, who both addressed the summit.

Ben Lacey said: "Being at the annual sitting has been a fantastic opportunity to voice the needs and concerns of North Yorkshire's young people and to bring back information that will assist our work on local campaigns to make a difference to young people's lives."

County Councillor John Watson, North Yorkshire's Executive Member for the 4Youth Service said: "This was a wonderful occasion for such a diverse group of young people from across the country to meet and discuss issues of the day. We would like to encourage as many young people as possible in our county to engage in politics and help to make a difference at a local as well as a regional and national level."

Now local youth councils in North Yorkshire are looking for new members in September and October and are appealing to anyone aged between 13 and 19 years of age to come forward. Young people who are interested to find out more should contact James Parkas, the County Council's Youth Council and Key fund Coordinator on 01609 533932 or visit the North Yorkshire Youth Council website www.nyyc.co.uk