Dorset Council is inviting more parents, carers, children and young people to help design and improve services for children and families.
It’s part of the council’s wider work to make sure communities help create, shape and 
redesign services. The council already works with parents and young people in a number of areas, for example:
• improving the Education Health and Care Plan process for parents of children with special educational needs and disabilities
• young people design information for children and young people coming into care
• young people sit on recruitment panels for senior posts
However, recent Ofsted inspections have highlighted that more needs to be done to capture the voices of the children, young people and families the council works with.
Cllr Andrew Parry, Cabinet member for Children, Education and Early Help at Dorset Council, said:
“It’s really important that we capture the views of children, young people and families when we’re looking at how we can improve our services. By involving them more often, we can get a feel of what their needs are and learn from their experiences. We know our services are better when they are designed with the people that use them, so want to do this more often.”
The council is inviting people to complete a short survey that captures their experience of services for children and families and suggest how they might like to get involved in the future.
Cllr Parry added: “We’d like to have a large pool of parents, carers and young people with different interests, needs and experiences that we can call on from time-to-time to help us provide the best possible services.
“How and when people get involved is really up to them. They could attend workshops, sit on panels or maybe be a mystery shopper. If they don’t have a lot of time they could join an online discussion or take part in a short poll. There’s no commitment involved, at this stage we’re simply asking people to register their interest.”
Dorset parent, Martha de Chazal, has a child with special educational needs and is part of the project team for this work. She said:
“If the council designs services with the people that use them, then they have a much greater chance of being fit for purpose and more effective.”
“As parents, we can identify where the gaps and areas for improvement are and help get the best outcomes for our children.
I’d encourage more people to get involved and work with the council to provide better services.”
The survey is live until 30 June. It takes a couple of minutes to complete.
You can also enter a draw to win a £50 high-street voucher.
Please can dorchester build a tempin bowling place there is a big earlier at the bottom of the high street opposite the garage near top tiles lids of people from dorchester Weymouth pool would come and people that are in leagues would come as well plus with Weymouth not having a bowling place now it would be a brilliant investment ? please it’s something that could make dorchester even cooler ?
Hi Tom! Thanks for this, I love a bit of bowling. I’m not aware of any plans for this, but please complete the survey and sign-up to get involved and help us make Dorset a great place for children and young people. Melissa.
What is the link to join and help make dorchester great?
Connect up the cycle paths so that families can cycle safely into Weymouth and have proper cycle stands in the town and near the beach.
Could you please tell me how members who do not have access to the internet are being made aware of this survey and also the ability to take part in what is such an important issue?
Hi Jenny. We can provide paper copies on request and we’ll be running focus groups with those that we know will not be able to complete the survey online. We’re also be at various community events and fetes over the next few weeks. Thanks.