Consulting in cyberspace
How do you find out the views of children and young people who are living away from home or are receiving help and support from social services? Why not use mobile phones, thought Ofsted’s Children’s Rights team. And so the Be Heard Young People’s Panel was conceived. 
Members are asked weekly questions either by mobile phone, text messaging or email. Typical topics covered include complaints, ambitions, placements, keeping safe, education and inspections.
Since it began in August 2005, the panel has attracted 124 members. They have been asked 149 questions and have submitted a total of 2,431 individual views. The panel’s top responder has replied to over 100 questions.
The views are fed into our consultation reports and these go to the Government and ministers to help influence and shape policies. Some of the questions have been asked on behalf of others, and the panel’s views have been quoted in Parliament.
We also discussed, with accompanying adults, the support the young people in their care need to help them continue with their membership of the panel
When a question goes out, it’s difficult to anticipate what the response might be. But that anticipation doesn’t last long; the quickest response time is 49 seconds, and the answers are highly insightful and brutally honest.
The commitment shown by young people to the panel is outstanding. Some of the email members have to travel in order to use a computer, so they can reply each week. Although email responses are not as instantaneous as text messages, they often contain more detailed 
responses and are well worth the wait – there are, after all, limits to what can be conveyed by a text.
To celebrate its third birthday, the very first panel met at Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London on 5 August 2008. Members showed their commitment by travelling from all four corners of the country, with accompanying adults.
The day was lively and colourful, with the young people sharing their experiences of the panel and their ideas for its future. We devised a shared dictionary of ‘text talk’ with them, and came away with a stack of potential questions for the future.
As the questions we ask can have an emotive and personal effect, we also discussed, with accompanying adults, the support the young people in their care need to help them continue with their membership of the panel.
Here’s what members told us being on the panel meant to them:
‘It’s a chance to say what being in care is actually like and means local councils and government, as corporate parents, can do what is best for children and young people based on what they have actually said, rather than just what councils and governments think.’
‘It has helped me tell people how I feel about things that are important to me.’
‘It’s great, u get to say wat u want and no one can tell u wat to say.’
For more information on the Be Heard Young People’s Panel, please contact Lilian Clay, Project Officer (Web and Information Systems), on 020 7421 6673.
The Rights 4 Me website also has a page about the panel: www.rights4me.org
