The Policy Forum will evolve its meeting structure in due course under the leadership of its Chair and the Board. In the first instance it is likely to include specialist inputs, thematic discussions/debates, and the formation of sub-groups which will break off to develop papers.
The meetings will take place at different times in the day/week to encourage involvement of volunteers, young people and full-time staff and officials. They will be two session meetings and last approximately six hours.
The Policy Forum will work closely with the Scottish Youth Parliament, and in particular with their thematic working groups. Joint meetings/sub-groups may be set up to deal with specific consultations or activity as appropriate. The Policy Forum will work closely with other networks, such as SCVO's Policy Committee as appropriate. The YouthLink Scotland Policy Forum will be a standing item on the agenda of the Voluntary Sector Chief Officers' Forum in order to ensure maximum involvement of the wider membership. YouthLink Scotland will suggest a similar arrangement with the Community Learning and Development Managers Scotland grouping.
Regular bulletins will be published by the Policy Forum to ensure that its work is widely circulated. Regular updates will also appear in the YouthLink Scotland Weekly Briefing.
The work of the Policy Forum will be co-ordinated by the Senior Development Officer (Policy and Parliamentary Affairs) working with the Chair of the Forum. Preparation of papers for the meetings and the secretariat function will be undertaken by staff within Corporate Services. Additional YouthLink Scotland staff will contribute to the work of the Forum, as appropriate, under the co-ordination of the Senior Development Officer (Policy and Parliamentary Affairs).
Work undertaken by sub-committees of the forum or by the Senior Development Officer (Policy and Parliamentary Affairs) will be circulated to members of the Policy Forum between meetings for comment as appropriate.