We can improve services by letting children challenge

My children and young people's advisory board Amplify has published its report on what children and young people feel makes life "do-able" in 2013. Amplify designed the research, were funded to carry it out, worked with web designers and co-authors, and have published what they found. They knew that like them, their peers live in an interactive, boundary-free world, so this was where the research reached them. The interactive web survey they devised attracted 1,300 responses. Their analysis is clear, accessible and mature.

Their respondents told them that first and foremost, children and young people want secure, loving, nurturing support from a family - be it their own or, if that is not possible, another, where boundaries are clear and affection is natural and unconditional. They want support and help from their friends. They want good schools that will support and develop them as well as educating them to achieve. Underpinning these wishes, they want a level of funding and resources that enable them to live their lives with dignity, supporting their access to services and activities that make life itself dignified. We will ensure every government department has their research report and the film that goes with it, and will press for responses. You can view them on our website.