Agenda item

This paper provides an update on the progress to date and work being carried out across the BCP place with regards to the improvements required in the Local Area SEND system. It provides an update of work across the partnership with regards to a new SEND Improvement Plan and associated Performance Scorecard.  The Performance Scorecard will both identify and evidence the performance areas and improvement metrics that can demonstrate that the partnership is making sustainable improvements.

Since 2021 the BCP Local Area SEND Partnership has been subject to a Written Statement of Action Plan (WSoA). The WSoA outlined eight improvement areas following the local area SEND Inspection July 2021. Since this time, progress against the WSoA plan was reviewed by a partnership SEND Improvement Board (SIB). During the July of this year, DfE Officials reviewed the progress of the SEND Improvement Board against this plan and determined that the pace of change was too slow and further that too many children were experiencing delays in service provision. It noted that the SEND partnership within BCP place needed to do more to refocus its efforts and secure solid sustainable improvements for children and young people with SEND. A new SEND Improvement Board Chair was arranged with John Coughlan arriving to support the improvements needed in Autumn of 2023.

Over the last 14 weeks (Sept – mid December), a thorough review has taken place involving all senior stakeholders across the SEND partnership. This has sought to identify what must happen to ensure the necessary changes for the SEND system in BCP. 

The SEND partnership is now in the final stages of agreeing a new Improvement Plan, this has identified eight new strategic areas of attention. Progress against this plan will be monitored through a performance scorecard which will hold key partners to account. It is recommended that this panel receives a termly update of progress against this improvement plan so that there is transparency of the actions and improvements realised for children and young people with SEND in BCP.

The Interim Director of Education and Skills presented a report, a copy of which had been circulated to each Member and a copy of which appears as Appendix 'C' to these Minutes in the Minute Book.

The report provided an update on the progress to date and work being carried out across the BCP place with regards to the improvements required in the Local Area SEND system. It provided an update of work across the partnership with regards to a new SEND Improvement Plan and associated Performance Scorecard.  The Performance Scorecard would both identify and evidence the performance areas and improvement metrics that could demonstrate that the partnership was making sustainable improvements.

Since 2021 the BCP Local Area SEND Partnership had been subject to a Written Statement of Action Plan (WSoA). The WSoA outlined eight improvement areas following the local area SEND Inspection July 2021. Since that time, progress against the WSoA plan was reviewed by a partnership SEND Improvement Board (SIB). During July 2023, DfE Officials reviewed the progress of the SEND Improvement Board against this plan and determined that the pace of change was too slow and further that too many children were experiencing delays in service provision. It noted that the SEND partnership within BCP place needed to do more to refocus its efforts and secure solid sustainable improvements for children and young people with SEND. A new SEND Improvement Board Chair was arranged with John Coughlan arriving to support the improvements needed in Autumn of 2023.

Over the last 14 weeks (Sept – mid December), a thorough review had taken place involving all senior stakeholders across the SEND partnership. This had sought to identify what must happen to ensure the necessary changes for the SEND system in BCP. 

The SEND partnership was now in the final stages of agreeing a new Improvement Plan, this had identified eight new strategic areas of attention. Progress against this plan would be monitored through a performance scorecard which would hold key partners to account. It was recommended that this Committee receives a termly update of progress against this improvement plan so that there was transparency of the actions and improvements realised for children and young people with SEND in BCP.

The Committee discussed the report including:

• In response to a request for clarification, the Committee was advised that an assessment of need would be undertaken which could then determine whether a child required an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP), however if the child did not meet the threshold for a plan, they may still be eligible for some additional support.
• In response to a query regarding the parent and carer groups and how they were recruited and engaged, the Committee was advised of the detailed work and forums which were used to engage with as much of the parents and carers as possible.
• In response to a concern regarding SEND pupils being in mainstream schools and due to delays were without EHCPs or the required funding, the Committee was advised of the activities which were being undertaken to address the backlog in assessments, increased administration support to process them and close monitoring of progress which included, where possible, prioritising vulnerable pupils.
• In response to a query regarding the number of EHCPs rejected in the current academic year, the Committee was advised it was a complex picture because the service was dealing with a backlog where children’s needs may have changed.  It was highlighted that it would be difficult to monitor performance when considering statistics until the service had stabilised and the backlog had been reduced.  The Committee was reassured that, in partnership with the services sector led improvement partner, work was ongoing to ensure best practice was used in the processing and quality of the decision making.
• In response to a concern that the contracted providers engaged to assist with the EHCP backlog were not fulfilling their contract, the Committee was advised that unfortunately, the company had been unable to recruit the required educational psychologists to fulfil the contract, which had resulted in further delays.  The Committee was advised what was being done to address this issue, however it was acknowledged that a shortage of educational psychologists was a national issue.
• In response to a query regarding trying to recruit more educational psychologists to work for the Council, the Committee was advised of the issues and the reasons why some may choose to work for agencies and also what was being done to try and address the recruitment and retention.

RECOMMENDED that

a)    The report is read and accepted as evidence of the work currently being carried out across the wider partnership within BCP place for its SEND Services.

b)    The Improvement Plan when agreed by the Department for Education is shared with the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

c)    That the BCP SEND Partnership Scorecard when agreed by the Department for Education is shared on a termly basis with the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny Committee.

d)     That the Local Authority Progress report of December 2023 is acknowledged with the improvements identified as outlined in this paper.