Somerset County Council, NHS Somerset Clinical Commissioning Group and Somerset Parent Carer Forum are keen to hear from children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), their families, professionals and health colleagues to help shape Somerset's SEND services going forward.

Anyone who has been in contact with Somerset SEND services (for whatever reason) over the past year is invited to share their views and experiences in the annual SEND survey.

 The anonymous survey runs until Monday, September 19 and can be found here: www.somerset.gov.uk/annualsendsurvey . Different versions are available for children, young people, family members, health and council colleagues and those with special access needs. Paper versions will also be available via schools. The results will be published this autumn.

 Cllr Tessa Munt, Lead Member with responsibility for Children and Families at Somerset County Council, said: "We want to make sure every child and young person is happy, healthy and prepared for adulthood, with fairer life chances and equal opportunities."

 "We're listening. We'd encourage you to let us all know what's working well now, what we can do better in future, and what our priorities should be. Somerset is investing millions in SEND services - and when you tell us what you think, we can plan for the future, confident in the knowledge that we're all working together."

 Ruth Hobbs, CEO Somerset Parent Carer Forum CIC, said: "The new format of our survey will help us to understand the impact of our services on local families. We encourage as many people as possible to take part in the survey. This will enable the partnership to have a clear understanding of the current experience of families and what further work is needed." 

 The survey is available on Somerset's Local Offer website until Monday, September 19: www.somerset.gov.uk/annualsendsurvey

Visit www.somerset.gov.uk/localoffer for more information, follow @LocalOfferSomerset on Facebook or sign up to receive a regular SEND newsletter at https://choices.somerset.gov.uk/025/send-news/.