The Government has released figures on young people and their attitudes to the communities they live in.

What's this all about then? This Government insists that it wants to incorporate the views of young people across all its work. In particular you can look at publications such as 2002's Learning to Listen action plan. One outcome was to incorporate research on children aged eight to 10 and young people aged 11 to 15 into the 2003 Home Office Citizenship Survey. The analysis, published in late February, offers evidence on issues such as what young people do in their families, the involvement they have in their communities and feelings about their neighbourhood, including experiences of discrimination.

What questions were they asked?

Too many to list here - there's a head-spinning 112 pages of tables in the full report. They fall into categories though. The first section broadly looks at how much young people feel their views are taken into account.

Then there are questions about the extent of discrimination by race or religion and about how much they enjoy and feel safe in their communities.

There is also a range of questions about their public lives, especially about participation in social networks and civic or voluntary groups.

Finally, there is a selection of moral and ethical questions - underage drinking, breaking school rules, keeping a found 5 note and so on. Many of the questions are broken down by class, race and gender.

So what do we find out? Overall, 59 per cent enjoy living in their neighbourhood.

More than nine out of 10 said they felt safe or fairly safe walking or playing alone in the daytime, but the proportion was 10 per cent higher among young men than young women.

Do they feel they are listened to?

Some 92 per cent felt their opinions were taken into account by their family, 64 per cent felt they could influence decisions in school, 33 per cent in their local area and 15 per cent nationally - similar to what the adult nation thinks.

Are they taking part in their local community? Absolutely. Over the previous year, nine in 10 had helped their family and 63 per cent helped out local clubs or groups. On youth club participation, the figures are 37 per cent of White, 31 per cent of mixed heritage, 26 per cent of Black and 20 per cent of Asian young people. The vast majority, 95 per cent, had seen or read the news in the past week. A big majority, 69 per cent, said they would vote in a general election - a stark contrast to predictions of less than 25 per cent by pollsters Mori (YPN, 16-22 February, p4).

What's the news on prejudice and discrimination? One in three Black and Asian young people reported being discriminated against, as did eight per cent of White young people. Overall, 94 per cent believed there is racial prejudice in Britain, with White young people significantly more likely to believe there is a lot of prejudice and to believe the situation is getting worse.

FACT BOX

- The majority of young people (64 per cent) have friends from a different ethnic group - One in eight young people say they have had no contact with friends in the past month, rising to 30 per cent of Bangladeshi young people - Some 86 per cent trust the police and 81 per cent trust teachers, but only 39 per cent trust politicians and 24 per cent trust newspapers - Children, young people and their communities is published jointly by the Home Office and Department for Education and Skills and can be downloaded from www.dfes.gov.uk