Decision details

Cabinet received a report on the first Participation Strategy for Young People 2022-2025 which signalled the Council’s intention to ensure it provided opportunities to engage with children and young people in Buckinghamshire so that their voices were heard, responded to, and acted upon.

The Council’s ambition was to provide the best services possible to support children and young people and their families in Buckinghamshire. In doing so the Council was striving to continually develop services and how they were delivered so they were relevant and appropriate.  Children and young people had valuable contributions to make in helping the Council to understand what they needed.

The strategy provided a clear framework for Children’s Services to use in an inclusive manner, actively listening, acting, and responding to the issues which children and young people informed the Council were important to them.  This included involving them in identifying and providing creative solutions.

During the December 2021 Ofsted re-inspection, inspectors had commented that the inclusion and participation of children in helping to shape improved practice and services was underdeveloped. The implementation of the Strategy formed part of the response to those finding.

RESOLVED –

(1)               That the ambitions set out within the Strategy be NOTED.

(2)               That the Participation Strategy for Young People 2022-25 be AGREED.