Children invited to Holyrood party

Published on Tuesday 7 October 2008 10:01

CHILDREN who were born on the same day as the Scottish Parliament was established are to be invited to a birthday party at Holyrood next year.

Around 150 youngsters who entered the world on July 1, 1999 – the day the parliament formally assumed its powers – will attend a tenth anniversary event.

The parliament will also host an open day on the same day.

But suggestions for a more ambitious celebration of ten years of devolution were thrown out at an early stage.

After the criticisms surrounding the 414 million Holyrood building, parliament bosses are keen to avoid any new allegations of extravagance.

One source said: "We want to mark the tenth anniversary, but the name of the game is to keep it in proportion, reasonable and simple and use it as a way of publicising the parliament.

"We don't want to go over the top on this. The last thing we wanted was a big birthday party with a march down the High Street, which would only cause further and continuing embarrassment to us."

The programme of events marking the anniversary was outlined by presiding officer Alex Fergusson today.

There will also be a travelling exhibition, exploring the parliament's role and featuring the stories of ten individuals who have engaged with the parliament during the last ten years.

It is intended it should visit up to ten locations across Scotland during the year. MSPs are being invited to nominate constituents who have a story to tell about their engagement with the parliament.

A conference on How the Scottish Parliament Works, aimed at community groups, will provide more information about how to engage via the political system on local and national issues.

The parliament says it plans to develop a range of new partnerships, working with three groups who are under-represented in parliamentary engagement – disabled people, people from ethnic minority backgrounds and hard to reach young people.

There will be new educational events designed to attract and engage a wider cross-section of young people with the parliament and political issues.

The tenth anniversary theme will be reflected through existing activities, such as the annual Festival of Politics.

A parliament spokeswoman said she was unable to put a figure on the cost of the events. But she said most of them would be paid for out of normal budgets, though "some modest additional resources" would be made available for the travelling exhibition.