2,000 youth envoys draft action plan for leaders

Up to 2,000 sixth formers are gathering today for a ground-breaking conference aimed at boosting youth participation in national life.

The meeting at Westminster Central Hall - the biggest event of its kind - will culminate with the filming of a special edition of BBC1's Question Time, produced by eight winners of the Schools Question Time Challenge.

Organised by the Institute for Citizenship, whose president is Question Time presenter David Dimbleby, and supported by the Evening Standard, the conference has the task of producing a Young Citizen's Action Agenda, which will be handed to the Prime Minister and London's Mayor in October.

Dimbleby said: "The importance of involving young people in political decision-making is greater than ever. Globally and locally we face new and complex challenges - it is important that everyone takes part in the debate."

Issues up for discussion include knife crime, the credit crunch, climate change and the way young people are portrayed by the media.

Speakers include International Development Secretary Douglas Alexander, Liberal Democrat MP Julia Goldsworthy and the BBC's Dimbleby, Andrew Marr and Huw Edwards.

There will also be a survey of young people's views which will be used to form the basis of the Action Agenda.

The winners of this year's Schools Question Time Challenge included one of London's leading grammar schools, The Tiffin Girls' School in Kingston.

Tiffin students Aaraby Ragavan, 17, and Jeevan Kaur, 18, will be working with BBC producers to get footage from the conference ready for broadcast in the special edition of Question Time.

Jeevan, who hopes to study geography at UCL, said: "The media portray it [youth crime] in a very bad light so we want to see if it is as bad as it seems."

She said the event could help young people to see that their views were important and, therefore, it was worth getting involved.