Determined to remain in touch with issues affecting the Island's youth, Premier Jennifer Smith has taken on the National Youth Council portfolio.

With a new survey gauging public opinion on youth issues just completed, the Council will soon be poised to better assess their function and set direction.

The National Youth Council was formed to address the concerns of young people in the community and originally reported directly to the Premier. In recent years the Council was deemed to be better suited to advise the Minister of Youth & Sport and has fallen under that ministry.

Youth & Sport Minister, Dennis Lister yesterday explained that the Premier specially requested to have responsibility for the Council return to her domain.

"This new direction the Premier has taken is best explained by her, but in a nutshell, she wanted to allow the voice of the youth to have direct access to her.'' Mr. Lister said.

He admitted the full effect of the Council was not ideally served by falling under the Youth & Sport Ministry as many of the issues they deal with may actually fall in different areas.

"They do not have purview over any specific area but look at a wide range of items which may in fact fall under different ministries,'' he said.

Mr. Lister revealed, "Leading up to the end of their tenure they decided to conduct a survey to see if the issues they identified were the same as those expressed by the public.

"While that survey is finished and the polling has just been completed, when I last checked with the Council they were still waiting for the document as the pollster had to make his report.'' he said.

Unsure as to whether the report will be made public Mr. Lister stressed that the main reason the Council had the survey done was to help them determine what direction they should be taking.