Get Involved with the Youth Select Committee
What is the YSC?
The Youth Select Committee (YSC) is a National Youth Agency initiative, supported by the House of Commons, which takes evidence in public and has its proceedings televised and recorded in Hansard.
The 12 committee members are aged 14-18 and include representatives of young people involved in various programmes and groups across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. The YSC receives induction training and mentoring from parliamentary Clerks and National Youth Agency staff.
Social media and youth violence inquiry
In 2024, the YSC conducted evidence sessions for their inquiry on youth violence and social media.
As part of the inquiry, the Committee is looking at issues including:
- The extent to which social media platforms promote violent content
- How social media companies enforce age restrictions
- The effectiveness of UK Government policy in protecting young people from harmful online content
Evidence sessions took place on Thursday 12 and Friday 13 December. You can watch recordings of these sessions on Parliamentlive.tv:
Thursday 12 December
Watch session one - Witnesses: Rani Govender, Policy and Regulatory Manager for Child Safety Online, NSPCC; Ben Lindsay, CEO, Power the Fight; Jon Matthews, Service Manager, Social Switch Project (Catch 22).
Watch session two - Witnesses: Professor Victoria Nash, Associate Professor and Senior Policy Fellow, Oxford Internet Institute; Dr Mhairi Aitken, Senior Ethics Fellow, Public Policy Programme, Alan Turing Institute; Olivia Nettleton, Associate Director, Revealing Reality.
Watch session three - Witnesses: Dame Diana Johnson MP, Minister for Fire, Policing and Crime Prevention, Home Office; Nick Hunt, Head of Firearms & Weapons Policy Unit, Home Office, Baroness Jones of Whitchurch MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for the Future Digital Economy and Online Safety, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology; Daniel Okubo, Deputy Director for the Online Harms Policy and Regulation, Department for Science, Innovation and Technology.
Friday 13 December
Watch session one - Witnesses: Ruth Halkon, Researcher, Police Foundation; Ciaran Thapar, Director of Public Affairs and Communications, Youth Endowment Fund.
Watch session two - Witnesses: Will Gardner, CEO, Child Net (UK Safer Internet Centre member organisation); Patrick Green, CEO, Ben Kinsella Trust.
The Committee invites written contributions by 23.59 on Thursday 16 January 2024 by e-mailing: youthselectcommittee@parliament.uk.
Read the full terms of reference (pdf, 89KB).
Look at past inquiries
2023
In 2023 the YSC conducted an inquiry into the impact of the cost of living crisis on young people.
- Read the Committee report (pdf, 570KB), which contains a variety of recommendations for the Government.
- You can also read the response from the Department for Work and Pensions (pdf, 184KB), and the Department for Business and Trade (pdf, 146KB), which offer an answer to each of the YSC's recommendations.
2019
In 2019 the YSC conducted an inquiry on the topic of knife crime.
- Read the Committee report (pdf, 3MB), which contains a variety of recommendations for the Government.
- You can also read the Government's response (pdf, 286KB), which offers an answer to each of the YSC's recommendations.
2018
In 2018 the YSC conducted an inquiry on the topic of Work Experience.
- Read the Committee report (pdf, 1006KB), which contains a variety of recommendations for Government.
- You can also read the Government's response (pdf, 449KB), which offers an answer to the Committee's recommendations.
2017
In 2017 the YSC conducted an inquiry focusing on the topic of Body Image.
- Read the Committee report, which contains a variety of recommendations for the Government.
- You can also read the Government's response, which offers an answer to each of the YSC's recommendations.