Report of the Cabinet Member for Education.

The Cabinet Member for Education (and SEND) presented the draft SEND Strategy and the draft Accessibility Strategy. The SEND Working Group had been invited to the meeting. 

The Select Committee had been tasked with reviewing the draft strategies and providing feedback. The SEND Strategy set out how the County Council, along with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCG) and partners (including education and health providers) would work together to provide services and support for children and young people aged 0-25 with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities and their families. The Accessibility strategy was a strategy for increasing the extent to which disabled pupils can participate in the school curriculum; improving the physical environment of schools to enable them to better take advantage of education; and, to improve delivery of information to disabled pupils.  The two strategies were interlinked.

The Cabinet Member described the progress to date in terms of engagement with stakeholders and identified  priorities and themes for further consultation and taking it forward.

Members welcomed the two documents but recognised that to be effective there must be full engagement from all partners. A Member asked to what extent schools were engaged given that during the drafting of the documents they had had (and continue to have) periods of closure due to the pandemic. The Cabinet Member was confident that schools wanted the very best for all their pupils, he maintained a close working relationship with schools and continued to work with SENCOs when schools were closed. 

A Member referred to the Autism Outreach Team (AOT) who had requested change to the scope of involvement to 25 years. Transition to adult services at 18 years is very difficult for some young people. She asked for free training to be available to SEND school governors as well as for SENCOs and for best practice to be shared around the county. This was currently difficult to access and as high quality governance was key to school improvement, upskilling SEND governors to ensure they are asking the right questions of schools would be integral to implementing the strategy. The Cabinet Member acknowledged that all schools had a budget for training and he would look into facilitating the Members request. He agreed to look into the request of the AOT. 

Some members questioned how engaged schools were with the Strategies. A Member asked to what extent parents had been involved. The Cabinet Member said that the Strategy was aspirational and underlying it would be an implementation plan. The Strategies would be launched in January 2021 with implementation plans to follow. Where schools are reluctant to engage, the authority could ultimately resort to Regional School Commissioners. Further, parents would be involved at the launch of the Strategy which aims to strengthen relationships between the local authority, schools and parents. A Parents and Carers Hub was due to go live shortly and would facilitate two-way communication.  The Assistant Director for Education Strategy and Improvement acknowledged that parent groups had helped to shape the draft Strategies and would be involved in their implementation. Members were reminded that the Strategies were co-produced and all partners would have an important role in delivery.

A Member asked about the cost of building adaptations and hoped the County Council was able to accommodate necessary work. The Cabinet Member said that in all new builds such matters were taken into account. Government had provided an additional £2m for school improvement and some of this will fund physical changes to buildings.

A Member asked about the assessment period of 20 weeks and whether that could be reduced. The Cabinet Member said that it was a 20 week maximum period and sometimes to be thorough it needed that time. He acknowledged that the historic backlog had reduced and 80% compliance would be achieved by the end of the year.  EHCPs were now completed in a timely manner but he would not want the process speeded up at the expense of quality.

The Chairman thanked the SEND Working Group for their time in attending the Select Committee

RESOLVED That the Select Committee’s feedback on the draft Strategies – appreciated by the Cabinet Member would be taken on board.