Agenda and minutes

1.1

Apologies for absence were received from Councillors Jack Scott and Richard Williams.  Councillor Simon Clement-Jones attended as substitute Member for Councillor Williams.

2.1

No items were identified where resolutions may be moved to exclude the public and press.

3.1

There were no declarations of interest.

4.1

The minutes of the meeting of the Transitional Committee held on 4^th October, 2021, were approved as a correct record.

5.1

There were no public questions or petitions received from members of the public.

6.1

Emily Standbrook-Shaw, Policy and Improvement Officer, submitted a briefing paper setting out the role and purpose of Transitional Committees (TCs) and how it was intended they are to work and how they relate to other structures within the Council, and to start to develop work plans and ways of working.  She said the key points were that TCs were temporary, advisory Committees, and not, as some other local authorities who were similarly going through transition to a Committee system, considered to be shadow Committees which would continue to work with similar memberships once the new arrangements were in place.  She said that it was acknowledged that education and health were a large remit and would need to be given much consideration when forming the new Committees.  Emily Standbrook-Shaw said that the Scrutiny Committees were still in place, and it was felt that the TCs would act as a conduit for consideration of issues that might arise out of Local Area Committees.  She said that TCs would decide new ways of working and how to work with partners and communities, and that these ways of working would provide valuable evidence and feedback to the Governance Committee when deciding the final structure under the new committee model of governance.

6.2

The Committee noted the information now reported.

7.1

The Committee received a report providing an update regarding Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Services in Sheffield and also an update on Post-16 transition to adulthood.

7.2

Present for this item were Louise Goddard (Post 16 SEND Officer) Kevin Straughan (Head of Lifelong Learning, Skills and Employment), and Rose Ward (Interim Head of Service, SEND).

7.3

Kevin Straughan said that, as a preamble to the report, the SEND Team was a relatively new team and had only been in existence for the past five months and as such was gathering momentum and traction. He said the implementation of the Post-16 Officer had been deemed to be essential to address issues that had arisen during an inspection of Joint Local Area SEND carried out in 2018.   The remit of the role was to establish clarity around the pathways to adulthood by making the picture clearer, wider and brighter for young people with SEND and also for their families/carers in an attempt to reduce the number of post-16 young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) and having nothing meaningful to move into.  Kevin Straughan said that, at present, the transition into adulthood commenced too late and caused confusion for many and there was still a lot of work to be done on this.  He felt that there was a need for strong leadership and support for families, a clear mandate to work with young people and their families to get the pathway right as they transition into adulthood.

7.4

Louise Goddard stated that she had been in post since May 2021, and had established links with child and adult social care Heads of Service, the Youth Service, Sheffield Parent Carer Forum, the Pupil Referral Unit and some voluntary and community organisations and she had gathered data centred around the number of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP), the school or education provider they sit with and the national curriculum year group they were in.  She said from the findings it was clear that the pathways to adulthood were not set out early enough and were not clear.  Louise Goddard stated that there was a misconception about young people with SEN that they had nothing to offer except to work either in horticulture or charity shops and this was not the case, they had and deserved a right to further education and employment if they so wished.  She then referred to the development of the Pathway to Employment Working Group which met monthly and had a very clear focus upon engagement with employers and a range of supportive stakeholders to ensure that a pathway into work was available for young people with SEND, and to explore mechanisms to engage employers, families and young people and prepare young people for working life  She said that employment at Post-16 was not for everyone with SEND, some wanted to develop independent living skills before gaining employment.

7.5

Louise Goddard stated that the team needed to produce EHC plans that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.

8.1

The Chair recommended that this item be withdrawn due to the absence of the Executive Member for Finance and Resources and the Head of Policy and Partnerships as there had been a bereavement in the service area.

8.2

RESOLVED: That this item be brought to the next meeting of the Committee.

9.1

Emily Standbrook-Shaw stated that should the next meeting be cancelled, the Home Care item would be put on the agenda, along with the item on the budget, at its meeting to be held on 4^th December, 2021.