Cambridgeshire County Council's Office of Children and Young People's Services (OCYPS), in recognition of its move towards more integrated services, now has a 0-19 Participation Team. This team brings together staff who are employed in participation roles across the County with a remit to lead on implementing the newly agreed Children and Young People's Participation Strategy. Although the basis of the strategy is for all partner organisations to work towards embedding the active involvement of children and young people in their services, the team also has a number of specific tasks they will take a lead on.

The team while continuing to work in their respective host organisations including Social Care, the Children's Fund, Early Years, Connexions and Youth Service has begun to work on a number of joint initiatives. These include member and locality staff training, consultation events and policy development ensuring the wide skills and limited resources within the team are maximised. 

The team are currently working on establishing a Young People's Assembly that will enable children and young people from around the County to put forward their recommendations to the Children and Young People's Strategic Partnership. The Partnership has overall responsibilty for developing services for children and young people.

The challenge now is for all organisations providing services to embed participation into their working practices enabling children and young people's voices to be heard through a process of consultation and dialogue.