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:-
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.
Minutes:
The following questions were heard at Committee with responses provided at the meeting by the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
The following questions have been received from Mr Sofianos:
Q1
The SEND Improvement Plan refers to a strategy to improve inclusion
in schools. This is good news and, hopefully, will be tracked by
this Committee. Inclusion is the tide that lifts all boats
and can improve school cultures and child wellbeing as well as
educational outcomes. These are also, now, government
objectives.
Key to this is support staff – particularly teaching assistants. Yet anecdotally, many local schools appear to be reducing teaching assistant roles, or losing TAs to better-paid, lower-stress jobs: in supermarkets, or cafes. Knowledge and experience are being lost.
Inclusion is more than just providing more mainstream places to SEND children. It needs, among many other things, resources.
Teaching assistants are a crucial but dwindling part of the school workforce. How does the Council plan to protect and support their roles, and those of other key support staff?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
I totally agree with you that recruiting and retaining the right people to work as classroom assistants is an issue. For many years I worked with classroom assistants and fully understand the difference that they can make to the education of children and young people and the skills that thy need. The line in your question about loosing Classroom assistants to higher paid jobs is almost identical to what I said to this committee previously.
We have been working with schools, over the last few months, using several co-production events to understand how the Teaching Assistance workforce can be supported, what the LA can do and how we can work in partnership with schools. This review will work alongside the new Government’s direction in this space around TA support. This will continue to be a development area for the BCP Education system during the Autumn term.
One final point, we can all help by championing the role of TAs and encouraging people to consider this as a career.
Q2
At March’s Committee meeting, I asked whether Council would
publish monthly performance data for SEND services. I was
told: “there is an established SEND Scorecard… this
can be shared.”
May’s Cabinet meeting shared incomplete data for March, but no more. I asked whether Council would publish datasets for April and May, and share them here – including crucial data on refusals. I was told: “getting the data out… is really important” – and “[we] will commit to getting that data available”.
Yet those datasets haven’t been shared here. Nor has the refusals data.
I was also told this data “is available through the parent carers forum”. Yet it hasn’t released updates to full membership.
If Council agrees that “getting the data out… is really important”, can it please explain, fully and clearly, exactly when and where it will publish monthly performance updates – including refusals data?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
We have been working with our Parent Carer Together organisation as to what measures parents and carers wish to see on a monthly basis. Last week they confirmed and agreed that the SEND Improvement Scorecard should be shared on the Local Offer each month. This is in the process of being uploaded to show June’s data set.
Q3
In February’s Full Council, members unanimously passed a
motion to send three specific letters to government departments and
the Local Government Association, in relation to Safety
Valve.
For May’s cabinet meeting, I asked how and when the Council will publish these letters. I was told that they: “will be published… in the June Council meeting”.
That meeting was postponed, but no such letters have been published so far for July’s Council meeting. Nor have they been shared here.
When and how will the Council publish the letters it was mandated to send during February’s Full Council?
And can you confirm that those specific letters were sent on or after May 7th?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
The Chief Finance Officer, Adam Richens, wrote to Nico Hislop, Director Local Government Finance, at what was then the Department for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities on 22 May 2024.
This was copied to the Chartered Institute of Public Finance and Accountancy (CIPFA) to its then Chief Executive Rob Whiteman, the council’s auditors Grant Thornton (Director Peter Barber), and the Local Government Association was also made aware via correspondence with its Chair (Shaun Davies). A copy of this letter was published as an appendix to the Medium Term Financial Plan update report to the 17 July Cabinet meeting. This can be accessed via the link below.
Appendix E - BCP Council Letter on HNB to DoF DLUHC 3.pdf
This letter has been followed by the Chief Finance Officer via meetings and e-mails with Ian Murray, Director of Public Finance Management at CIPFA seeking solutions.
Also in recent weeks, the Chief Executive, Graham Farrant, has been in e-mail correspondence and meetings with officers from the Department for Education (DfE) and Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).
Vicky Slade, previous Leader of the Council and since July 2024 MP for Mid Dorset and North Poole has also on this issue had conversations with and written formally to Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education and Minister for Women and Equalities. I can also send you a copy of this letter.
The following questions have been received from Rachel Filmer:
Q1
Since the Safety Valve deal was rejected by the Department for
Education, we have substantially more information about the scheme
and how it is affecting local authorities, families and schools.
The charity IPSEA are calling for the scheme to be ceased,
following an investigation that found numerous related unlawful
policies. Five Norfolk academy trusts state that cuts to their
top-up funding, apparently caused by failure to meet Safety Valve
targets, will mean mass redundancies and exclusions of disabled
children who cannot be educated or even kept safe. One third of
Safety Valve areas report they still face insolvency.
Given this additional information, and that there is now evidence of agreements causing failures to meet statutory duties, are BCP still entertaining entering the scheme if given the opportunity, and what reassurances can you provide to schools and families who are rightfully concerned?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
BCP have not been given the opportunity to enter the Safety Valve Scheme so are not able consider entering the scheme or not.
Q2
Despite improvements in average timeliness of EHCPs, some local
families have reported concerns that their legal rights are still
not being fulfilled. Some have reported that they have not been
given the statutory 15 days to respond to a draft plan. One
reported receiving less than one hour to respond. Some plans are
reportedly being finalised while BCP are still consulting with
schools, with that process running down a parent’s appeal
window, leaving them with no legal ability to challenge any delay
in naming a suitable placement.
In the last six months, what percentage of final plans were issued without a school named, and what percentage are finalised without parents being given the full statutory response period?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
We are committed to ensure that co-production happens and in a meaningful way, both with parents and with schools. Now that timeliness has been improved, we are working to 16 week deadlines for plans to allow for quality co-production of plans. We continue to work through our Quality Assurance processes to ensure that the plans are child centred and specific to their needs.
We are now working with all Case Officers to ensure that full co-production takes place in a timely fashion and that we ensure that this is meaningful. Any parent who wishes to discuss their plan should contact their Case Officer.
The following questions have been received from Pearl McCarthy
Q1
It is clear that more support for children with SEND in education
is desperately needed and in recent times, BCP Council has
struggled to keep up with requests from families for such
support.
What proactive modelling is BCP Council doing to try to predict needs in future months and years so we are not finding ourselves in perpetual crisis in this area?
Answer from the Portfolio Holder for Children and Young People:
I agree that more support is needed for children with SEND and there is a struggle to keep up with the request of families. This is a national issue and many, if not most, local authorities are in a similar position.
Within BCP we are working on a new SEND Sufficiency Strategy, and this has been in created through workshops with Parent Carers Together & Parent Carers Foundation as well as schools. This aligns to our Joint Strategic needs assessment planning processes. Monthly processes are now in place to understand the volume and requirement of future plans and what this means for ongoing need across the BCP area.