Draft
These are the draft minutes of the SEND Strategic Partnership Board. This note will be removed once the minutes are signed off at the next meeting.
Attendance
- Andre Imich, Independent Chair
- Alison Brooks, Strategic Advisor (minutes)
- Amy Bickford, SEND Participation Lead, Devon County Council
- Amy Carey-Jones, Information Advice and Support Lead, DiAS
- Adrian Fox, Head Accountant, Devon County Council
- Brian Gale, SEND Adviser, DfE
- Councillor Denise Bickley, Cabinet member for SEND, Devon County Council
- Dan Harris, Head of Financial Systems and Processes, Devon County Council
- Eamonn O’Connor, SEND Consultant, Devon County Council
- Emma O’Connell, Children and Family Health Devon Acting Director
- Fran Cox, Education Consultant, Olive Academies
- Hannah Smart, Executive Headteacher, ACE Tiverton
- Holly Billington, Deputy Director (Interim), Children and Family Health Devon
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
- Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Kellie Knott, SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
- Keri Denton, Director of Performance and Partnerships, Devon County Council
- Kevin Beveridge, Head of Integrated Adult Social Care, Devon County Council
- Liza Jarvis, Head of SEND/AP Commissioning, Devon county Council
- Mark Tucker, Senior Learning Disability and Autism Programme Assurance Manager and SEND Lead NHS England and NHS Improvement South West, NHS England
- Melanie Coleman, Programme Manager for SEND Transformation Programme, Devon County Council
- Mohammed Jimale, DfE Case Lead, Department of Education
- Sadie Hall, Assistant Director – Women, Children and Young People, NHS Devon
- Sally Heath, Deputy Director, Transformation and Business Services, Devon County Council
- Simon Niles, Head of Education Strategy & Central Operations, Devon County Council
- Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Improvement, NHS Devon
- Victoria Mitchell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
Apologies
- Adam Walker, Principle Service Manager, People Too
- Clare Merchant-Jones, head of SEND Operations, Devon County Council
- Jo Pritchard, Clinical Lead for SEN and Children, NHS Devon
- Maddie Hayden, Communications Officer, Devon County Council
- Natalie Wickins, Care Group Director – Women’s Agreement and children, NHS Devon
- Paul Walker, CEO, First Federation Multi-Academy Trust and Chair of Devon Schools Leadership Services (DSLS)
- Sophie Turner, Education Schools Team (SW Region), Department of Education
- Steve Brown, Director of Public Health, Devon County Council
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
The Chair welcomed attendees, noted apologies and confirmed that actions from the previous meeting had largely been completed.
2. Minutes of the previous meeting
The minutes of the previous meeting were agreed.
Matters arising noted:
- An update on the EHCP Quality Assurance process is scheduled for the July meeting.
3. Lived experience updates
Key points discussed:
- Four Cornerstones workshop (6 July) attendance is a priority.
- Workshop will focus on strengthening co-production and its influence on partnership decision making.
- School holidays have limited new engagement with young people..
- Young people need to be meaningfully involved in planning for their future.
- Families’ feedback gathered via DIAS, PCFD, volunteers and surveys.
Key themes highlighted:
- Families value services that work with them, not around them.
- Consistent messages were heard around: “No wrong door” access, Solution focused approaches, Families as equal partners
- Clear, consistent and accessible communication is critical to trust and confidence.
- Inclusion is often fragile and overly dependent on individual effort.
- Practical, joined up responses reduce escalation and distress.
4. Strategy – key updates
a) Preparation for inspection
Key points discussed:
- Preparation group is in place, focusing on shared understanding/language consistency across the partnership.
- Annex A is being developed and quality assured across partners to strengthen a single partnership narrative.
- External support is in place to provide challenge and inspection insight.
- A peer review involving another local area is scheduled for early July.
- Communication with the workforce remains a key risk.
b) High Needs Funding Framework
Key points discussed:
- Training has taken place for Inclusion and Learning/SEND staff.
- Framework will begin to be used for new requests and phase transfers.
- Impact will become more visible to schools later in the summer term and from September.
- Implementation within special schools will follow separate recommissioning work.
- Clear communication with schools is essential.
5. Autism: Identification, assessment, diagnosis and support (multi-agency update)
Key points discussed:
- Statutory mental health waiting times targets now being met.
- Improved productivity through revised workforce models, additional clinics and digital/community-based support offers.
- Mental health support teams now cover the majority of Devon.
- Drop-in speech and language therapy: under-fives wait lists eliminated. Further work focused on school age children.
- Substantial progress on autism assessment recovery, supported by additional investment and pathway redesign.
- Referral rates stabilised for the first time, enabling sustained reduction in waiting lists.
- Expanded support for those awaiting diagnosis through work with Parent Carer Forum.
- Support should not be dependent solely on diagnostic labels.
- Inclusive practice, early understanding and reasonable adjustments reduce escalation to crisis.
- Strengthening universal and targeted support is critical to reducing long term demand.
- Workforce confidence and communication remain system wide challenges.
6. SEND Reform Plan
Key points discussed:
- Submission deadline:19 June.
- Three core elements: maturity assessment, narrative reform plan, data and implementation planning.
- Work is being aligned to current transformation plans to avoid duplication.
- A time limited governance structure has been established to oversee delivery.
- Initial implementation will focus on test and learn activity from autumn 2026.
7. Local Area Maturity Assessment
Key points discussed:
- Members reviewed the draft, confirming it broadly reflects the partnership’s current position.
- A short executive narrative will be completed to align with the reform plan submission.
8. Building inclusive communities – Olive Academies (Fran Cox)
Key points discussed:
- Strong engagement from schools to date, with optimism and willingness to improve inclusion.
- Principles and enablers for inclusive practice have been developed.
- A programme of school visits is underway to gather the perspectives of leaders, practitioners and pupils.
- Findings will inform the SEND Reform Plan, Experts at Hand Offer and Inclusion Strategy
- School feedback will need to be triangulated with parent/carer experience.
9. SEND sufficiency implementation plan
Key points discussed:
- Expansion of specialist provision already approved.
- Increased post 16 capacity.
- Re commissioning of special schools to clarify offer and prevent unnecessary escalation.
- Reduction of reliance on independent provision.
10. Experts at Hand – feedback from workshop and emerging learning
Key points discussed:
- Must link to existing partnership initiatives, with clear coordination and communication to avoid duplication/confusion.
- Tension noted between targeting highest need areas and geographical spread.
- Available provision is high quality but there’s significant frustration around long waits.
- Support often only becomes available once need escalates to crisis point.
- Severe national shortages in Speech and Language Therapy (SALT), Occupational Therapy (OT), Educational Psychology.
- Need for greater early intervention and school based support, rather than reliance on statutory processes.
- Ongoing challenges with OT and SALT waiting lists, particularly for over 5s.
- Experts at Hand funding is to build school capability, improve early help, smooth children’s journeys through education.
- Capacity within Educational Psychology service is constrained by statutory EHCP work (70–80%).
- Training qualified specialists takes years; short term solutions alone are not viable.
- Strong support for: developing assistant roles, investing in training pathways, building expertise within existing workforces.
- Experts at Hand has to be needs led and data informed, using locality and JSNA data.
- Focus on clusters, learning communities and trusts, not individual schools in isolation.
- Simple referral pathways and clarity on what the offer is – and is not.
- Three proposed pilot areas were discussed:
- 1. Exeter and East Devon
- 2. South and West Devon (Teignbridge or Newton Abbot)
- 3. North Devon (Ilfracombe or Bideford)
- Experts at Hand offer should focus primarily on targeted and targeted plus support.
- Funding must enhance existing provision and not be used for one to one delivery.
- Strong emphasis on practical implementation support, not just assessment and advice.
- Importance of follow up and accountability to ensure recommended strategies are actually embedded.
- Simple, low cost reasonable adjustments (e.g. sensory supports, movement breaks) can make a significant difference.
- Schools are not always confident or consistent in implementing these.
- Strong support for universal trauma informed approaches, compassionate behaviour policies and clearer guidance on Equality Act duties.
- Need to support schools to balance inclusion with classroom management and behaviour concerns.
- Families seek belonging and thriving in mainstream settings, not diagnoses for their own sake.
- Risk of misinformation where clear, accessible communication is absent.
- Families and schools are largely unaware of progress.
- Lack of communication is increasing anxiety, driving referrals and undermining partnership confidence.
11. Securing stakeholder engagement
Key points discussed:
- No Comms rep in attendance.
- Need to develop clear, sensitive and coherent communications, particularly in relation to Experts at Hand.
- Careful consideration needed around how messages are framed, sequenced and delivered, to ensure they support confidence and understanding among stakeholders.
- Clear ownership and accountability for communications activity.
- A shared commitment across partners to communicating consistently and well.
- Communications being treated as core programme infrastructure, rather than an add on.
- Discussions regarding jointly funding a dedicated communications resource
- Consideration of a project based communications role to support SEND Reform and EaH delivery.
- Exploring alternative approaches where existing capacity is limited.
12. AOB
No other business
Date for next meeting: Tuesday 2 June 2026