The Prince of Wales is today meeting with members from youth charities, both at his Clarence House base and in South London, to discuss the issues young British people face.

In the morning, he is visiting the Café of Good Hope in Lewisham to meet with young people who have been helped by the Prince’s Trust as well as representatives from the Scouts Association who are part of Youth United, an initiative launched by The Prince of Wales in 2009.

The Prince will be hosted by Mr and Mrs Mizen, who are part of Families United and opened the Café of Good Hope – intended to be a haven for young people and whose proceeds go towards youth projects – in memory of their son, Jimmy Mizen, who was murdered in May 2008.

The Prince will then convene a roundtable meeting at Clarence House to tackle issues such as unemployment amongst young Britons, which recently reached over one million. The meeting will be attended by representatives from the three political parties, youth organisations and representatives from civil society. Political attendees will include Nick Hurd, Minister for Civil Society, Jo Swinson, deputy leader of the Scottish Liberal Democrats, and the Baroness Royall of Blaisdon, shadow leader of the House of Lords.

Wider focus on youth

The activity follows yesterday's Children and Young People Summit held by the Labour party which discussed the coalition government’s policies in the children’s charities sector and how to best deal with cuts to the sector.

Matthew Downie, head of parliamentary and public affairs at Action for Children, attended yesterday’s summit and found it to be a constructive event. “The meeting was a useful exercise in dealing with the reality of the challenges this area of the charity sector faces,” he said.

The summit is part of an ongoing consultation on youth matters.