HEALTH, education and safety have been identified as the key focus points for organisations working with children in Cumbria.

A new three-year plan unveiled yesterday -  The Children and Young People's Plan -  will provide a blueprint for all work involving youngsters across the area until 2019.

Education and health leaders celebrated the launch of the 23-page report at a special conference designed to highlight the importance of protecting the mental and emotional wellbeing of school children in the county.

The event was attended by around 200 delegates including teachers, mental health professionals and members of Cumbria's Youth Council.

John Macilwraith, Cumbria County Council's corporate director for children's services, said the new plan was the result of eight months of work behind the scenes involving many agencies that provide services for children in the area.

He said: "I am delighted to be able to launch this multi-agency children and young people's plan.

"It's been a lot of work and we have listened to our partners before finally agreeing on the three priorities which are health, education and safety."

Mr Macilwraith added: "There are pockets of deprivation in Cumbria and there are some children in our county who face challenges.

"We want to support those children to enable them to be the best they can be and to maximise the investment opportunities that we know will come to Cumbria in the next few years."

Those attending the conference, held near Shap, were told that if Cumbria was represented by just 100 children, 14 would be classed as living in poverty while around 16 would have a special educational need or healthcare plan in place.

The delegates were also informed that work remains ongoing to improve capacity within the system to enable school staff to refer children who require professional support or help for mental health conditions from overstretched services such as the Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service.

Barrow's Cumbria County Council representative Anne Burns described the launch of the plan, as well as the conference itself, as a huge success.

"This is an important step for all of us here," she said.

"At the heart of it is making sure we provide support to children at the earliest opportunity, to help ensure they don't get to the stage where they need help from health services such as CAMHS."