STAFF and children involved in an initiative to improve the lives of young people in County Durham have received awards.

Investing in Children was set up by Durham County Council's children's services department and has brought together organisations throughout the county which work with young people.

During the past two years they worked with youngsters to develop an agreement about their aims.

This included consulting with children and their families about decisions affecting them, developing accessible services and promoting partnerships between individuals and agencies to address young people's issues.

An awards ceremony was held at County Hall, in Durham City, yesterday, to recognise the hard work of everyone involved.

Garry Wallis, of the council's community support team, said: "Young people reviewed the services we provided for them and came up with ideas for how they could be improved.

"They developed an action plan which has now been put in place."