The Southampton Cultural Education Partnership (SCEP) has responded to a call from the organisation Participation People, which has been commissioned by DCMS to facilitate a series of pop-up consultation events with young people aged 10–14, helping to inform national policy thinking linked to the Youth Transformation Programme and Young Futures Hubs. SCEP is supporting Participation People to understand the regional landscape and to make connections in the area.
Participation People is seeking host groups and settings for pop-up consultations in the Southampton, Hampshire and Isle of Wight area to take place ideally in the window of 20-23 July 2026 over 1.5 days (though they will aim to be flexible to align with existing activity and maximise participation).
The team at Participation People will facilitate the consultations and will provide support directly with logistics and planning. They are open to running consultations in a range formats and settings, including: school-based engagement; youth clubs; after-school provision; community and cultural settings.
Within the target age range of 10-14, they are particularly keen to open up this opportunity to young people who may experience barriers to opportunity and participation, including:
- Young people experiencing deprivation
- Young people at risk of exploitation or involvement in crime
- Young people accessing mental health support
- Neurodivergent and disabled young people
- Young people whose voices are often less represented in policy spaces
Further details are provided in the below flyer:
Participation People have assured us of their commitment to ensuring that all young people involved in the pop-up consultation events are supported within safe, inclusive and well-managed environments. As part of their engagement process for the DCMS consultation programme, Participation People have robust safeguarding, consent and risk management procedures in place to support young people, parents/carers and partner organisations throughout engagement – they will work collaboratively with host venues to embed these procedures in the engagement activity.
More details on safeguarding:
If you think you may be able to give 10-14 year olds in your community a voice in national policy by hosting a pop-up consultation in July, please complete this short form:
DEADLINE Friday 5 June 2026, 12noon.
SCEP will share all responses with Participation People, who will follow up with you directly to discuss next steps.