Paul Boateng: 'We understand the vital importance of feedback'

Paul Boateng understands about talking to children – after all, he has six of his own. As the first government minister for Young People, from November 2000 until June 2001, one of his main priorities was to make sure that children and young people had a voice. "We need to listen to young people more. They have a lot to say," he said.

"Children and young people have not been paid much attention by governments in the past for a variety of reasons. My sense is that people were not convinced you could have an input from young people that could be meaningful. They were wary of the impact of what young people would have to say.

"Now we're learning how better to consult and listen, and we understand the vital importance of feedback. There is nothing more frustrating for young people than to be involved in consultation and then hear nothing – the Government becomes a black hole that sucks everything in but emits nothing back."

Boateng was promoted to Chief Secretary to the Treasury in May 2002 but remains strongly committed to the interests of young people – a central part, he says, of the Government's social and economic policy.

There was no point, he says, in seeking the opinions and contributions of young people unless the Government was ready to receive them. "You have to have the machinery in government to give a voice to the young people. Now I think the CYPU has already had an impact and it has learnt from what young people are telling us."