SEND Strategic Partnership Board Terms of Reference

A. Vision and purpose

The purpose of the SEND Strategic Partnership Board is to ensure that all children and young people thrive and achieve positive outcomes, through the right support in the right place at the right time.

“Our vision – as set out in the SEND Code of Practice – for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities is the same as for all children and young people – that they achieve well in their early years, at school and in college, and lead happy and fulfilled lives.

This is about how professionals across education (including early years, schools, colleges and 16-19 academies), health, and social care should support children and young people with special educational needs (SEN) or disabilities to prepare for adult life and help them go on to achieve the best outcomes in employment, independent living, health, and community participation.”

We are clear that in an effective and sustainable SEND system that delivers great outcomes for children and young people, the vast majority of children and young people should be able to access the support they need to thrive without the need for an EHCP, or a specialist or alternative provision place. This is because their needs would be identified promptly, and appropriate support would be put in place at the earliest opportunity before needs can escalate. Those children and young people who require an EHCP or specialist placement would be able to access it with minimal bureaucracy. (SEND Review) 

The SEND Strategic Partnership Board plays a crucial role in ensuring effective support and services for children and young people with SEND and is essential in creating a cohesive and responsive system that supports the needs of children and young people with SEND, ensuring they receive the best possible care and education.

The Board’s roles is to provide governance, oversight, and strategic direction for collaborative initiatives related to SEND between organisations, ensuring alignment of goals, shared value creation, and effective decision-making.

B. Objectives

The objectives of the Board are:

• Improvement focus: Ensure continuous improvement across all service providers so that children, young people, and families can access the support they need.
• Scrutiny and monitoring: Provide robust system scrutiny, monitoring, and review of the SEND strategy, Inclusion and Learning strategy and Neurodiversity strategy, the SEND Transformation Programme and other SEND-related improvement initiatives across the Local Area.
• Accountable governance: Maintain collective responsibility and accountable governance over the system strategic direction of SEND services.
• Collaborative approach: Foster a collaborative approach among stakeholders across the Local Area to enhance SEND provision.
• Understanding of need: Have an accurate, shared understanding of the needs of children and young people with SEND in their local area.
• Effective communication and engagement: Improve communication and engagement with key stakeholders, including parents and families, to ensure transparency and trust.
• Early intervention: Promote early identification and intervention to address SEND needs promptly and effectively.
• Integration of services: Ensure integration between educational, health, and social care services to promote the wellbeing and improve the quality of provision for children and young people with SEND.

C. Responsibilities

The Board’s key responsibilities are:

• Strategic leadership: Provide multi-agency leadership to ensure effective strategies for SEND provision are in place.
• Collaboration: Foster collaboration across various services, including education, health, and social care, to ensure integrated support for children and young people with SEND.
• Policy development: Develop and implement policies and practices that improve SEND services and provision across the local area.
• Understanding of need: Understand the experiences and outcomes of children and young people with SEND across Devon and share information across education, care and health services to learn from different perspectives and approaches
• Monitoring and accountability: Monitor the effectiveness of embedding of relevant strategies, SEND services and hold partners accountable for their roles in delivering these services.
• Capacity building: Build capacity within services to better meet the needs of children and young people with SEND.
• Improvement: Provide robust scrutiny, monitoring and review of transformation and improvement activities
• Communication and engagement: Ensure effective communication and engagement between all stakeholders, including parents, carers, and service providers.
• Risk management: Identify and mitigate risks associated with SEND provision.
• Integration: Ensure integration between educational, health, and social care services to promote the wellbeing and improve the quality of provision for children and young people with SEND.

D. Success factors

Measures of the success of the board and its work will include:

• services are provided at the right time and in the right way underpinned by co-production and meet the needs of the local community
• children and young people with SEND secure good outcomes and fulfil potential
• there is an evident Local Area approach to improvement
• statutory duties are met

E. Accountability and governance

Overall accountability of the SEND Strategic Partnership Board is to:

• the local area
• the Department for Education
• NHS England

F. Responsibilities and conduct of individual members

• Attend all scheduled board meetings. Board membership requires direct engagement – attendance responsibilities cannot be assigned or delegated.
• Board members are expected to review board papers in advance and come prepared with any questions or comments.
• Share relevant communications and information across the membership of the board and, where appropriate, within their own organisations and/or departments being mindful of information governance and data sharing requirements and legislation.
• Make timely decisions and be accountable for any agreed actions required.
• Notify members of any matters which may impact on the effectiveness of the board.
• Find solutions and be ready to be flexible as required.
• Support the improvement work through moving or creating resources where these are needed.

Conflict of interest:

• If any member has an interest, pecuniary or otherwise, in any matter and is present at the meeting at which the matter is under discussion, he or she will declare that interest as early as possible and will not participate.
• The Chair has authority to request the member withdraws until the committee’s consideration has been completed .

G. Standing agenda

The standard agenda is to be as follows (the agenda may vary as required at discretion of the chair): 

1. Welcome, apologies and introductions 
2. Actions log – previous actions log approval, and review of open actions 
3. User voice
4. Updates and reports:
   Change and transformation
   a. Four Cornerstones (quarterly)
   b. SEND Transformation Programme (by exception)
   c. ICB SEND improvement programme (by exception)
   Controls
   d. Performance report
5. Strategic discussions:
   e. Policy updates
   f. Strategic priorities – current and future
   g. Risk management
6. Forward plan 
7. AOB 

H. Membership

The SEND Partnership Board will meet monthly.

Name	Title	Email
Trevor Doughty	Independent Chair of SEND Strategic Partnership Board	Trevordoughty@hotmail.com
NHS
Penny Smith	Chief Nurse	penny.smith27@nhs.net
Su Smart	Director of Women and Children’s Improvement	su.smart@nhs.net
Children and Family Health Devon
Emma O’Connell	Children’s Alliance acting Deputy Director, Children and Family Health Devon	emma.oconnell4@nhs.net
Natalie Wickins	Care Group Director, Women’s and Children, RDUH	Natalie.wickins@nhs.net
Council Members
Cllr Denise Bickley (DCC)	Cabinet Member for SEND	denise.bickley@devon.gov.uk
Cllr Julian Brazil (DCC)	Leader of the Council	julian.brazil@devon.gov.uk
Cllr Richard Jefferies	Cabinet Member of Children’s Services	richard.jefferies@devon.gov.uk
Devon County Council
Donna Manson	Chief Executive	donna.manson@devon.gov.uk
Julian Wooster	Director of Children and Young People’s Futures	julian.wooster@devon.gov.uk
Tandra Forster	Director of Integrated Adult Social Care	tandra.forster@devon.gov.uk
Sally Heath	Deputy Director – Transformation and Digital	sally.heath@devon.gov.uk
Jack Newton	Interim Deputy Director of Inclusion and Learning	jack.newton@devon.gov.uk
Kellie Knott	Deputy and SEND Strategic Director	kellie.knott@devon.gov.uk
Angie Sinclair	Director of Finance & Public Value	angie.sinclair@devon.gov.uk
Keri Denton	Director of Performance and Partnerships	keri.denton@devon.gov.uk
Amy Pickford	Participation lead	amy.pickford@devon.gov.uk
Maddie Hayden	Communications Lead for SEND	maddie.hayden@devon.gov.uk
Steve Brown	Director of Public Health	steve.brown@devon.gov.uk
Amy Carey-Jones	DiAS representative	amy.carey-jones@devon.gov.uk
Education
Paul Walker	Chair of DSLS	paul.walker@firstfederation.org.uk
Hannah Smart	Designate Chair – Devon Special School Heads (DSSH) Phase Association	hannah.smart@transformingfutures.org.uk
TBC	Early Year rep
TBC	Further Education rep
Voluntary sector
TBC	Voluntary sector rep
Parent Forum
Julia Bonell or Victoria Mitchell	Director of Parent Carer Forum Devon	cochairs@parentcarerforumdevon.org
Department for Education
Brian Gale	DfE SEND Adviser	Brian.Gale@hotmail.com
Liam Ennis	Children’s Services Intervention Case Lead – DfE South West Regions Group	liam.ennis@education.gov.uk
NHS England
Mark Tucker	Senior Learning Disability and Autism Programme Assurance Manager and SEND Lead  NHS England and NHS Improvement South – West	mark.tucker4@nhs.net
Laura Canning	SEND NHSE	laura.canning@nhs.net
Programme Team
Melanie Coleman	SEND Programme Manager	melanie.coleman@devon.gov.uk
	Business support
	MI rep to support with data presentation (DCC and Health)

I. Minimum attendance/quorum

The group will be quorate when there is one member attending from each agency including DCC, NHS Devon, CFHD, Parent Forum, Schools and the Voluntary Sector.

J. Frequency of meetings

The SEND Strategic Partnership Board will meet every six weeks.

K. Business support