Agenda and draft minutes

To receive any apologies for absence from Councillors.

Apologies for absence were received from Cllr Olivia Brown and Cllr Peter Cooper.

To receive information on any changes in the membership of the Committee.

Note – When a member of a Committee is unable to attend a meeting of a Committee or Sub-Committee, the relevant Political Group Leader (or their nominated representative) may, by notice to the Monitoring Officer (or their nominated representative) prior to the meeting, appoint a substitute member from within the same Political Group. The contact details on the front of this agenda should be used for notifications.

Cllr Michael Tarling attended as substitute for Cllr Olivia Brown, and Cllr Patrick Canavan attended as substitute for Cllr Peter Cooper.

Councillors are requested to declare any interests on items included in this agenda. Please refer to the workflow on the preceding page for guidance.

Declarations received will be reported at the meeting.

No declarations of interest were received.

To confirm and sign as a correct record the minutes of the Meeting held on 27 January 2026.

The minutes of the meeting held on 27 January 2026 were confirmed as a correct record and signed by the Chair.

To note the latest updates to the recommendation tracker.

The Committee noted the Recommendation Tracker. The Chair advised that responses from Cabinet were expected shortly in relation to items 55 and 56, as the two?month response period was approaching. The Committee was further advised that Recommendation 12 had been captured as an action for inclusion on the Committee’s Forward Plan.

The Chair provided an update on outstanding actions, and the Committee noted the actions that could be closed. Members also agreed that the Tracker would be reviewed in greater depth around June 2026.

To receive any public questions, statements or petitions submitted in accordance with the Constitution. Further information on the requirements for submitting these is available to view at the following link:-

https://democracy.bcpcouncil.gov.uk/documents/s2305/Public%20Items%20-%20Meeting%20Procedure%20Rules.pdf 

The deadline for the submission of public questions is 3 clear working days before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a statement is midday the working day before the meeting.

The deadline for the submission of a petition is 10 working days before the meeting.

The Committee received two public questions from Adam Sofianos, who was unable to attend the meeting and had asked Democratic Services to read them on his behalf.

Q1 – Agenda item 9, SEND improvement

Recently the Government published its plans for education reform. The SEND proposals have caused alarm among educators, charities, campaign groups and families.

These proposals have also provoked a formal judicial review challenge.

Families are particularly fearful of the threat to slash the number of children receiving statutory protection, the possible removal of appeal rights, and the move to give schools liability for both the delivery and costs of most support, which may incentivise the restriction of services.

While these plans offer financial breathing-space for councils, the effect on support for disadvantaged children nationally could be a problem, making an under-performing service even worse.

The Government consultation runs until 18^th May.  How does Council intend to respond, and how will it engage with families and local groups, and councillors, to ensure its response is reflective of the many concerns being raised?

Cllr Richard Burton, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, provided an answer as follows:

Thank you Chair and thank you, Adam, as always, for the question.

The Council is taking the Government’s consultation on SEND reforms very seriously, and we are ensuring that our response is informed by the voices and experience of our local area.

To support this, we have issued a survey to all schools across the BCP area, as well as to our Local Area System Leadership Group, which includes key partners such as the Parent Carer Forum and Parent Carer Together.

In addition, our Parent Carer Forum has circulated targeted questions to parents and carers to make sure families are able to share their views directly.

We will now bring this feedback together to help shape a comprehensive Council response to the consultation. This will reflect a range of concerns and perspectives raised locally.

I also want to emphasise that it will be important for all partners, including parents and carers, to respond individually to the national consultation so that their voices are heard as part of the wider national picture.

Through this approach, we aim to ensure that the BCP submission is fully informed, balanced, and reflective of those who will be most affected by the proposed reforms.

Q2 – Agenda item 13, SEND inspection report

Ofsted is not the only party with an interest in SEND performance.

During 2024, the Council was repeatedly asked at this Committee to publish regular updated performance statistics.  Eventually a dataset began to be published on the Local Offer microsite.

However, at the time of submitting this question, the most recent data available was for July 2025.

There are 7 months outstanding. How will Council make this missing data available?  And will it keep its previous promise, and continue to publish SEND performance data in the future?

Cllr Richard Burton, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People, provided an answer as follows:

Thank  ...  view the full minutes text for item 67.

To receive a verbal update from the Members of Youth Parliament (MYPs).

The Committee received a presentation from the Members of Youth Parliament, including a Deputy Member, providing an update on their activity during their term of office and the campaigns they had undertaken.

The Members of Youth Parliament reported on work across several campaign areas, including mental health, knife crime, youth homelessness and student finance. It was noted that a mental health training video for teachers had been developed using feedback from young people and that a recent webinar to launch the resource had received positive engagement from schools and NHS mental health teams.

An update was also provided on local and national engagement, including a knife crime awareness event delivered in partnership with the police, participation in sittings at the House of Commons, and involvement in the Youth Select Committee, with a report due to be published later in March.

In response to a query raised regarding whether further improvements could be made, the Committee was advised that wider promotion of the Youth Parliament process would help increase awareness and participation, including stronger engagement across the Council and with elected Members.

Members thanked the Members of Youth Parliament for their presentation and commended them for their confidence, commitment and the positive contribution of youth voice to the work of the Committee.

BCP Council adopted ‘A shared vision for Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole 2024-28’ in May 2024. 

The shared vision is the corporate strategy which sets out the council’s vision, priorities and ambitions as well as the principles which underpin the way the council works as it develops and delivers its services. 

Incorporated in the vision is a set of measures of progress for achieving the vision, priorities and ambitions. 

This is the performance monitoring report for Quarter Three 25-26, presenting an update on the progress measures. 

The council’s delivery against its priorities and ambitions can also be monitored through the performance dashboardwhich is available on the council’s website providing up-to-date real time information on the progress measures.

The Committee received the Corporate Performance Report for Quarter 3.

The Chair highlighted the indicator relating to school exclusions and advised that the role of the Committee was to seek assurance regarding performance. The Committee was advised that exclusion data was improving, notwithstanding the red RAG rating shown in the report.

The Committee was also advised that discussions had taken place with the Audit and Governance Committee regarding the management of risk, and that the Corporate Risk Register would be included within the Committee’s papers for future meetings to support ongoing scrutiny.

RESOLVED that the report be noted.

To receive a verbal update from John Coughlan, DfE Advisor to BCP Council on SEND improvement Journey.

John Coughlan, Department for Education Adviser, on the SEND improvement journey, presented a verbal report to the Committee.

The Committee discussed the update, including:

• In response to a query raised regarding the recent SEND inspection, the Committee was advised that the inspection confirmed the local area partnership had moved out of statutory intervention, with inspectors recognising improved leadership, strengthened partnership working and tangible progress since the previous inspection.
• In response to a query raised regarding the areas where further improvement was still required, the Committee was advised that work remained ongoing, particularly in relation to support for children with social, emotional and mental health needs, development and promotion of the Local Offer, and improving support for children awaiting neurodiversity assessments.
• In response to a query raised regarding long waiting times for neurodiversity assessments, the Committee was advised that a needs?led approach was being progressed, with earlier intervention, graduated support and partnership working aimed at supporting children while they awaited formal diagnosis.
• In response to a query raised regarding practical support for children during long neurodiversity waiting times, the Committee was advised that partners were developing needs?led approaches and piloting earlier intervention models, including targeted support for those waiting the longest, to ensure children received help without delay.
• The Committee expressed concerns about how schools were supported to sustain inclusive practice. In response, it was noted that engagement with schools had improved, alongside work underway to develop inclusion bases, outreach support, and professional development to strengthen system?wide capacity.
• The Committee was advised that variation in inclusive practice between schools was being addressed through stronger collaboration, peer challenge, and shared system expectations, which were supporting greater consistency across the school system.
• In response to a query raised regarding workforce capacity and staff morale, the Committee was advised that leadership stability had improved and that continued support for staff would be critical to sustaining progress.
• The Committee was advised that, although forthcoming national SEND reforms would present challenges, the local system was in a stronger position to respond due to the improvement work already undertaken.

Members welcomed the update and thanked Mr Coughlan for his contribution to the improvement journey.

RESOLVED that the verbal update be noted.

This report provides an overview of the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme, the Government’s national reform programme for children’s social care, and sets out the proposed approach to local implementation.

FFP underpins delivery of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, the Government’s Plan for Change, and aligns with the NHS 10 Year reform agenda, providing a single delivery framework at place level. The programme aims to reduce crisis driven statutory intervention through earlier preventative measures, safely reduce the number of children entering care, and improve outcomes for children and families through family centred practice and stronger partnership working.

The report outlines the local governance and programme management arrangements, including the establishment of a Strategic FFP Board and a multi?disciplinary transformation team, alongside arrangements for partner engagement, workforce development and learning from national pathfinders. It sets out the Council’s priority delivery workstreams, including early help pathway development, front door reform, a Family Help pilot, planning for multi?agency child protection arrangements, and options appraisal for Family Group Decision Making.

The Director of Children’s Social Care presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'A' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This report provided an overview of the Families First Partnership (FFP) programme, the Government’s national reform programme for children’s social care, and set out the proposed approach to local implementation.

FFP underpinned delivery of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill and the Government’s Plan for Change and aligned with the NHS 10?Year reform agenda, providing a single delivery framework at place level. The programme aimed to reduce crisis?driven statutory intervention through earlier preventative measures, safely reduce the number of children entering care, and improve outcomes for children and families through family?centred practice and stronger partnership working.

The report outlined the local governance and programme management arrangements, including the establishment of a Strategic FFP Board and a multi?disciplinary transformation team, alongside arrangements for partner engagement, workforce development, and learning from national pathfinders. It set out the Council’s priority delivery workstreams, including early help pathway development, front door reform, a Family Help pilot, planning for multi?agency child protection arrangements, and options appraisal for Family Group Decision Making.

The Committee discussed the update, including:

• In response to a query raised regarding alternatively qualified practitioners, the Committee was advised that this referred to practitioners with relevant professional qualifications or experience other than social work, who would work alongside qualified social workers within early help and family help pathways. It was clarified that the title “social worker” remained a legally protected term.
• The Committee was advised that success and impact would be measured through the Early Help Strategic Partnership, using a combination of existing data, new measures, and outcomes linked to the Best Start in Life programme and Family Hubs.
• In response to a query raised regarding public health involvement, the Committee was advised that public health was already a key partner in early help and prevention, with grant funding supporting this work, and that outcome measures would continue to be developed jointly.
• In response to a query raised regarding how the move away from criteria?based thresholds would operate in practice, the Committee was advised that a shared threshold would remain, but that the emphasis would shift towards needs?led conversations rather than families being redirected between services because they did not meet specific criteria.
• The Committee was advised that, to achieve greater consistency across the system, work was underway to update the existing PAN Dorset threshold model to reflect a BCP?wide approach.
• In response to a query raised regarding how data sharing would operate across partners, the Committee was advised that statutory data?sharing arrangements were already in place, but further work was required to strengthen shared data and performance measures as more partners were brought into the front?door arrangements.
• In response to a query raised regarding timescales, the Committee was advised that 2025/26 focused on implementation planning, with delivery expected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 71.

In relation to the items of business appearing below, the Committee is asked to consider the following resolution: -

‘That under Section 100(A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraph 2 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.’

RESOLVED that under Section 100 (A)(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, the public be excluded from the meeting for the following items of business on the grounds that they involve the likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 2 in Part I of Schedule 12A of the Act and that the public interest in withholding the information outweighs such interest in disclosing the information.

This report provides a baseline assessment of the Children in Care (CiC) position at the end of Quarter 3 (December 2025) and sets out the mitigations already in train and further invest-to-save proposals.

CiC numbers have continued to rise to 628 (84.5 per 10,000), an increase of 13% (73 children) since Q4 2024/25. Forecast CiC expenditure for 2025/26 is £53.27m, c.11% (£5.4m) above budget, driven by rising demand and the increasing complexity and cost of provision.

The service has strengthened demand management and cost control through Early Help, the Reunification Team, employment of permanent Alternatively Qualified Practitioners, “It Takes a Family” (ITAF) and Mockingbird models, as well as the Creative Care Panel. To accelerate impact from 2026/27, an Outline Business Case proposes a Children in Care Transformation Programme (phase 1 investment £500k) comprising a full-system review and a CiC Strategy, with anticipated part-year savings of c.£1m in 2026/27.

The Committee received a report on the Children in Care baseline position, including demand, spend, forecast overspend and proposed mitigation measures.

The Committee discussed the report.

RESOLVED that the report be noted and that a further update on the Children in Care position be brought back to the Committee at a future meeting.

The remainder of the meeting was held in public.

Exempt minutes –

Children in Care – Baseline of Need, Spend and Overspend with Mitigation Proposals

The  Director of Children’s Social Care presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'B' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

This report provided a baseline assessment of the Children in Care (CiC) position at the end of Quarter 3 (December 2025) and set out the mitigations already in train, alongside further invest?to?save proposals.

CiC numbers had continued to rise to 628 (84.5 per 10,000), representing an increase of 13% (73 children) since Quarter 4 2024/25. Forecast CiC expenditure for 2025/26 was £53.27m, approximately 11% (£5.4m) above budget, driven by rising demand and the increasing complexity and cost of provision.

The service had strengthened demand management and cost control through Early Help, the Reunification Team, the employment of permanent Alternatively Qualified Practitioners, the “It Takes a Family” (ITAF) and Mockingbird models, and the Creative Care Panel. To accelerate impact from 2026/27, an Outline Business Case proposed a Children in Care Transformation Programme, including phase 1 investment of £500k, comprising a full?system review and a CiC Strategy, with anticipated part?year savings of approximately £1m in 2026/27.

The Committee discussed the report, including:

• In response to a query raised regarding the baseline position, the Committee was advised that current demand levels reflected a combination of demographic pressures and increasing complexity of need, and that demand was expected to remain challenging in the short to medium term.
• The Committee was advised that forecasting assumptions would continue to be reviewed and refined as mitigation activity progressed and new data became available.
• In response to a query raised regarding the drivers of the overspend, the Committee was advised that placement availability, placement cost and length of stay were key contributing factors.
• In response to a query raised regarding whether proposed mitigation measures were sufficient to address the projected overspend, the Committee was advised that some measures were expected to have a longer-term impact, while others were already delivering benefits, with governance arrangements in place to monitor delivery and adjust plans where required.
• In response to a query raised regarding financial oversight and sustainability, the Committee was advised that strengthened governance and monitoring arrangements were in place to track demand, spend and outcomes, alongside the development of invest?to?save proposals.
• The Committee was advised that a further update would be brought back once the impact of mitigation and transformation activity could be meaningfully assessed.

The local area partnership SEND inspection took place in November 2025 and the final report was published by Ofsted on the 6^th February 2026. The report concludes that the local area partnership’s arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND, and that partners must work jointly to secure the necessary improvements.

Inspectors recognised clear progress and strengthened foundations since the previous inspection. The report highlights:

·       Increased stability in leadership and a strong shared vision across education, health and care. 

·       Improving lived experiences for many children and young people with SEND, with tangible examples of better multi?agency working and strengthened workforce capacity.

·       More responsive health support, better partnership functioning, and growing opportunities for children and young people to have their voices heard.

Inspection findings also reaffirm that improvement work since 2021, such as the strengthened SEND partnership structures, the development of the Belonging Strategy and improvements in communication and co?production, has set a strong platform for continued change.

Overall, the inspection confirms that the partnership is moving firmly in the right direction and must now embed improvements so that positive experiences become the norm across the BCP area.

The report was circulated for information only with no discussion in Committee.

The Council has a statutory duty to provide working families of children aged 0-14 (18 with SEND) enough childcare places in its area, where reasonably practicable.  Each year Research and Children’s Services colleagues assess the position of the market, providing parents, councillors, schools and private businesses ward level information as a planning tool to support access or expansion of places, while highlighting areas of focus or concern.

With significant government expansion of early years childcare now fully embedded this information and data is vital for private businesses seeking to enter the market and help the Council fulfil its ongoing statutory duties and the content of the assessment concludes that the Council is meeting its statutory duties.

In addition to a briefing report (appendix 1) the data that helped form the assessment is accessible here.

The report was circulated for information only with no discussion in Committee.

To receive a verbal update from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People.

The Portfolio Holder provided an update on recent activity across Children’s Services:

• The Portfolio Holder advised that a number of matters had already been covered during earlier discussion at the meeting.
• The Committee was advised that an all?councillor Children’s Services briefing had taken place on 11 February, hosted by the Chair, with a presentation from the Director of Education and Skills. Fourteen councillors attended, with positive discussion and engagement. The briefing was also available on catch?up, and Members were encouraged to promote wider viewing.
• The Portfolio Holder advised that the Ofsted/CQC SEND inspection report demonstrated a clear understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of the local SEND system and set out a clear direction of travel. It was noted that, while progress had been made, the judgment of “inconsistent” meant further work was required, and it would not be appropriate to be celebratory while families continued to experience challenges.
• The Committee was advised of the Youth Parliament hustings and celebration event, with election results due to be announced on 21 March at The Life Centre, Winton. It was noted that this event coincided with the Mayor of Bournemouth’s Civic Service.
• Attended the Headteachers’ Forum, where discussions focused on inclusion and shared data. Members were encouraged to seek feedback from schools in their wards on engagement with these forums.
• The Committee was advised that the Schools White Paper had now been published alongside supporting documentation. Work on the Council’s response had commenced, including engagement at the SEND Summit and completion of a draft maturity matrix. It was highlighted that a significant programme of work was required ahead of June, and that meeting national deadlines was critical to securing the 90% High Needs Block deficit payment, with delays posing a significant financial risk.
• The Portfolio Holder advised that the service was required to design a new system aligned with long?term reforms while continuing to operate the existing system, placing additional pressure on the workforce in the coming months.
• The Portfolio Holder reported on recent school visits, including Corfe Hills School and St Aldhelm’s School.

The Overview and Scrutiny (O&S) Committee is asked to consider and identify work priorities for publication in a Work Plan.

The Committee noted the Work Plan update.

The Committee was advised that a work?planning workshop had taken place since the previous meeting, during which priorities for the year ahead were identified. Officers were now reviewing those priorities to determine an appropriate timetable, and a finalised Work Plan would be shared with Members and published with the agenda for the next meeting.

The Committee was further advised that a refreshed scrutiny lens for the Committee, focusing on nurturing children, young people and families, had been proposed at the workshop. As not all Members had attended the workshop, the proposed refreshed scrutiny lens was presented to the Committee and formally agreed.

The Committee also agreed that actions which had been completed could be removed from the actions list.