CHILDREN and young people spent a day being listened to by Lancashire County Council.

Chief officers from children's social care services have met with looked-after children to find out how they think procedures can be improved.

The meeting was set up as part of the 11 Million Takeover day, organised by the Children's Commissioner for England to celebrate the importance of children and young people in our society.

Children were invited to take over leading institutions, jobs and organisations for the day in the hope of kick-starting their involvement in decision-making.

The county council arranged for a young person in care to work alongside one of its senior officers for the day, and then help look at how services for children leaving care could be improved.

A small group of looked-after children also met with officers to talk about their experience of reviews which are held at least every six months to track and plan the care arrangements for children and young people.

The meeting produced a video interview about children's statutory reviews with the young people who attended.

Gill Rigg, the council's director of children's integrated services, said: "We have a culture of listening to the young people we look after but this gave us an opportunity to do something structured that will, we hope, lead to a change for the better."