Saint John Fisher Catholic School in Harrogate hosted a talk from a member of the House of Lords to encourage students to engage more with the political and parliamentary process.
Lord Best OBE met with Sixth Form students for an hour to talk about the work and role of the House of Lords. This was followed by a question and answer session on various aspects of the parliamentary process and life at Westminster generally.
Lord Best, as a Crossbench Peer, believes he is able to offer students impartial advice to would be politicians on the ins and outs of the cut and thrust of political life.
Lord Best said:
Through the visit to Saint John Fisher, I hope to generate interest in politics in the students as they approach voting age. Pupils from successful schools such as St John Fisher are just the kind of people we want in politics.
Head Teacher, Mr Paul Jackson, said:
It brings politics to life when a Member of the House of Lords comes to the school to talk about the roles and careers of British political life.
The visit was arranged through the Lord Speaker’s “Peers in Schools” programme, which has been running across the UK since 2007 and has so far involved around 50,000 young people. This continuing outreach programme sends members of the House of Lords into schools and colleges across the country to give talks in support of the citizenship curriculum.
For further information, see the Lord Speaker’s web page at www.parliament.uk/lordspeaker
