Agenda item

8.1

The Committee received a report of the Director of Commissioning, Inclusion and Schools regarding SEND and the Inclusion Strategy.

8.2

In attendance for this item were Dawn Walton (Director of Commissioning, Inclusion and Schools) and Tim Armstrong (Head of SEND).

8.3

It was reported that a wide range of views had been sought about SEND and Inclusion in the city and how the needs were being met across education, health and care services.  Consultation was ongoing and the results would be collated and analysed to inform the strategy development.  A co-production session had been set to develop the draft strategy.

8.4

Members of the Committee raised questions, and the following responses were provided:-

·                The Written Statement of Action (WSOA) was being monitored on a monthly basis.  Progress had been made, but there had not been enough of a culture shift to recognise this process.

·                There was a perception from families and organisations that the statutory SEND Service was not performing well.  The service was improving with 79% of Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plans now completed in timeframe for the year.

·                All actions in the WSOA would be completed by the time of the review and would be monitored by the Department for Education and NHS England. 

·                The Council, Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) and NHS England were working on robust joint commissioning arrangements.

·                The Council was working on a training programme with the Department of Education to ensure that enough officers who write plans were appropriately trained, recognising that there was no national framework for training.

·                The CCG were intending to increase the time of the designated clinical officer.

·                There was a clear graduated approach and expectation of schools to put in place ‘my plans’ for children with SEND when they were needed.  These were live documents and should be owned by the school. 

8.5

RESOLVED: That the Committee requests that a copy of the Ofsted Report, the WSOA, details of what the Council is doing to achieve the actions and proof of progress, be submitted to its meeting to be held on 4^th November, 2019.