Agenda item

Mandy Lawson (Assistant Director, Education and Disabilities) presented an update on services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND). She was joined by Alison Markwell (Head of SEND Partnerships) and Satwinder Saraon (Strategic Lead for Early Years and SEND Transformation).

The Chair noted that the timescales for Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) had improved since 2017 but there was a dip in 2020/21 due to Covid. She asked if officers expected the timescales to return to pre-Covid levels soon. Mandy Lawson said Covid did have a major impact on the process, primarily because most children weren’t in school so practitioners weren’t able to gather information and carry out assessments. With children back in schools, officers expected the process to return to normal. But the impact of the pandemic on children was still unknown and there may be an associated increase in the level of need coming through the system.

The Chair asked if the improvement in inclusivity over the last year was due to online / remote working and if that would continue. Mandy Lawson said remote meetings were less daunting for young people. The Youth Council had been very inviting and adapted its practices to ensure more people were included. The Council had also employed young adults to work with the Youth Council to ensure the voice of young people was included.

Nandini Ganesh noted that SEN support and inclusion would be used to bridge the High Needs Block funding gap and asked how SEN support would be monitored. She also noted that demand for EHCPs was increased significantly (13%) year-on-year so how would that be balanced with lower-level support and inclusion?

Mandy Lawson clarified that demand for EHCPs wasn’t increasing by 13% year-on-year, but there was an increase each year. If a child had complex needs, they should have an EHCP. The problem with the current system was that it forced people into applying for EHCPs to access certain provision like speech and language therapy. Speech and language therapy had been identified as a key area for improvement and Satwinder Saraon (Strategic Lead for Early Years and SEND Transformation) noted that officers were developing a more rigorous and robust early intervention offer in this area to support children with emerging needs and those waiting for multi-disciplinary assessments.

Nandini Ganesh noted that 49 percent of children were from outside the borough and asked if in-borough children were prioritised. Mandy Lawson said the borough was fortunate to have four special schools and more places than the borough needed. The legal framework didn’t allow local authorities to ring-fence places, but officers were able to identify early which children needed places and apply for them early.

Councillor Mark Loveday asked for an update on the high needs block overspend situation.

Mandy Lawson said the High Needs Block transformation programme was about ensuring money was spent in the right place at the right time, using early intervention to avoid higher costs later on. The DfE had approved the Council’s plans and as part of that agreement they will offset a significant amount of the deficit, to be paid off in stages over the next four years.

Councillor Loveday asked the following questions:

·       How many children were planned to be reallocated from special to mainstream schools?

·       How many children were involved in the pilot?

·       If the planned reallocation would make special schools unsustainable?

Mandy Lawson said she could share figures outside of the meeting. She said special schools wouldn’t become unsustainable, they had huge numbers of applications and had to turn many people down due to capacity. The issue for the Council was that children should be in the right provision for their needs and the right pathway to the next steps of their education. There would always be special schools for those children who needed them.

ACTION: Mandy Lawson

Matthew Jenkins asked if there was funding to support the continued increase in children year on year – and if not, what could we do to secure more? Mandy Lawson said the funding was driven by a formula based on local population with additional factors applied. The formula had disadvantaged H&F in the past because it was partly based on historical spend, which was relatively low in H&F, but that had been corrected and the borough was in a better place moving forward.

Nandini Ganesh asked if officers had data on transition destinations – how many H&F residents went into supported employment programmes, how many were given housing etc. Mandy Lawson said she would follow up with colleagues and circulate an answer.

ACTION: Mandy Lawson

Eleanor Allen asked for more information on the Positive Behaviour Support Service. Mandy Lawson said it was a new service, jointly commissioned with the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) for children with complex learning difficulties or autism who presented with behaviours that placed themselves or their families at risk of harm. The cohort required specialist support to help keep them safe and enable them to pursue opportunities that their behaviour might otherwise restrict.