To ask the Minister of Education for an update on his Department’s plans to develop a participation network that will allow children and young people to engage with and co-design Department of Education policy.

My officials are working in partnership with other departments and a range of key stakeholders, to develop proposals which can better support and facilitate the participation of children and young people in government decisions which affect them. The work to date, which has involved input from children and young people has focused on developing participation principles to inform the engagement process. The development of a cross-departmental participation network will be considered in the next phase. DE teams already routinely seek input from children and young people on policy development.