Hannah Gibney, 17, Emily Middleton, 15, and Idris Olasupo, 15, were invited to speak at the conference which was organised by Children Now's sister magazine, Young People Now.
They highlighted the lack of free and accessible leisure facilities and gave ideas on how young people could be encouraged to get involved in more voluntary activities and schemes.
Idris spoke of his own experience living in East London: "In my area there was nothing for us to do, and we were just hanging around the streets until the police told us we could apply for a free leisure centre card. I think these things should be free for everyone."
Emily agreed. "We think all young people should be able to experience things like leisure activities, travel and opportunities to work and socialise," she said.
In particular the presentation focused on the idea of a youth card, and what the Young NCB members would like to see included in such a system, such as public transport discounts and rewards for voluntary work.
"Young people don't want tokenistic gestures," commented Hannah. "We want respect, responsibility, independence and the right to be heard when people are making decisions about our lives. We would like to see a green paper which reflects this attitude."[QQ - For more information on Young NCB, visit www.youngncb.org.uk.
