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.

A brief summary of the key points from this meeting is also available.

Attendance

• Andre Imich, Independent Chair
• Adam Szczotka, Manager, Impower
• Adrian Fox, Head Accountant, Devon County Council
• Alex Coffin, Consultant, Impower
• Amy Bickford, SEND Participation Lead, Devon County Council
• Bethany Brooks, DfE Case Lead, Department for Education
• Brian Gale, SEND Adviser, Department for Education
• Councillor Denise Bickley, Cabinet member for SEND, Devon County Council
• Councillor Julian Brazil, Leader of the Council and Cabinet Member for Schools, Devon County Council
• Dan Harris, Head of Financial Systems and Processes, Devon County Council
• Eamonn O’Connor, SEND Consultant, Devon County Council
• Edie, Youth Representative, Devon County Council Network for Change
• Emma O’Connell, Children’s Alliance Director (Interim) , Children and Family Health Devon
• Fran Cox, Education Consultant, Olive Academies
• Hannah Smart, Executive Headteacher, ACE Tiverton
• Hollie Billington, Deputy Director (Interim), Children and Family Health Devon
• Jo Pritchard, Head of Joint Commissioning and Clinical Lead for SEN and Children, NHS Devon
• Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
• Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
• Kate Stephens, Head of Public Health Nursing, Devon County Council
• Kellie Knott, SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
• Lauren Cole, SEND Board Secretariat, Devon County Council
• Liam Fryatt Joll
• Liz Halliday, Senior SEND Communications Officer, 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 Jamal, DfE Case Lead, Department for Education
• Paul Walker, CEO, First Federation Multi-Academy Trust and Chair of Devon Schools Leadership Services (DSLS)
• Sally Heath, Deputy Director, Transformation and Business Services, Devon County Council
• Steve Brown, Director of Public Health, Devon County Council
• Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Improvement, NHS Devon
• Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care, Devon County Council

Apologies

• Claire Plumb, South Devon UTC
• Amy Carey-Jones, Information Advice and Support Lead, DiAS

1. Welcome, introductions and apologies

The Chair welcomed attendees and noted the apologies received.

2. Review of previous meeting minutes and actions

The Board reviewed the simplified public summary of the previous meeting and agreed that the one-page format was useful, particularly for sharing key messages with headteachers.

Members suggested further refinement following feedback, including clearer explanations or links being included for high level terms such as ‘Experts at Hand’ and ‘peer review’, and more accessible language and formats for families and young people.

Action: Lauren Cole to correct the date in the previous minutes summary.

Decision: Future public summaries to use accessible language and include links to further information where helpful.

3. Local updates – LGR

Updates on LGR, including implications for school funding, will be communicated when available.

Action: Lauren Cole to schedule for Julian Wooster and Mohammed Jimale to provide a regular LGR update at future SEND Strategic Board meetings.

4. Terms of Reference review

The Terms of Reference were reviewed for the new academic year. Members welcomed the inclusion of young people and discussed how their representation would operate in practice.

The Board identified gaps in representation, particularly across schools, Early Years, Further Education, the voluntary sector and secondary education. Members noted the importance of securing representation from across the education system. For secondary school representation we are ideally looking for a school which includes year 7-11.

• Action: Paul Walker to speak with Gemma Relston about a suitable Early Years representative and report back at the next meeting.
• Action: Kellie Knott to speak with the Post-16 team about Further Education representation on the Board and report back at the next meeting.
• Action: Steve Brown to liaise with the voluntary sector assembly and Simon Kitchen to identify a voluntary sector representative and report back at the next meeting.
• Action: Fran Cox to approach schools for an appropriate secondary representative and report back at the next meeting.

Decision: The Inclusion Board will include a standing agenda item to review SEND Strategic Board agendas and provide comments.

5. Update from parent carer forum Devon (PCFD)

PCFD outlined its work to make engagement easier for families, including family drop-ins, social media activity, a weekly question and a survey completed by 115 carers. Early feedback indicates that practitioners are valued, the SEND system remains complex to navigate, and families value opportunities for peer connection.

Survey responses are being coded by sentiment, process and outcome, and by emerging themes. Members discussed the importance of presenting feedback constructively and accurately, recognising both current and legacy experiences, and showing what is working without minimising continuing challenges.

The Board noted that PCFD is reaching a broader range of families and that, although improvements are being made, these are not yet consistently felt by families.

• Action: Julia Bonell to share the questions used in the PCFD SEND survey so that related work can be aligned. Lauren Cole to share with the minutes of todays meeting.
• Action: Julia Bonnell to consider how future surveys can distinguish between recent and legacy experiences and enable comparison with previous findings.
• Action: Lauren Cole to add PCFD slides to the shared folder and circulate with the minutes

6. Youth voice in action – messages from children and young people

Following attendance by four young people at the previous Board, work has progressed on making meetings more accessible. Options that are being considered include dyslexia-friendly formatting, images, overlays, audio and video, clearer web signposting and easy-read training.

Video summaries will now be created following each board meeting, all acronyms will be removed from minutes/papers, and Kellie has offered to meet with young people representatives prior to the meeting to discuss papers.

The Four Cornerstones Language matters principles were agreed at the Incluson and Learning Leadership meeting last week and will now be implemented.

Two routes for participation were proposed: one or two young people as standing Board members, representing lived experience and wider views; and young people attending to present or discuss specific topics. The board emphasised appropriate preparation, practical information, accreditation and remuneration.

The Board also discussed strengthening co-production within reports and templates, using the Four Cornerstones and considering a checklist at the front of Board reports.

• Action: Lauren Cole to work with Liz Halliday regarding how we can make Board meeting papers and templates more accessible.
• Action: Liz Halliday to work with Lauren Cole and Kellie Knott on web signposting to minutes and actions.
• Action: Kellie Knott to amend the Board cover sheet to incorporate a section on co-production and the Four Cornerstones.
• Action: Liz Halliday to produce an accessible Board overview document or webpage explaining what the board is.
• Action: Kellie Knott and Adrian Fox to identify funding for remunerating young people who attend Board meetings.

Decision: The Board agreed that young people should be represented both as standing Board members and through attendance for specific agenda items. Needs of young people attending will be considered fully and a synopsis of any practicalities will be outlined for them ahead of each meeting.

7. Best Start in Life and links to SEND reform

The Board received an update on the Best Start in Life and Family Hubs programme, which provides locality-based early support according to need rather than diagnosis. The approach includes early identification, school readiness, community outreach and links with Early Years and Inclusion and Learning teams.

Members noted progress with health visitor involvement, developmental checks and recruitment to Best Start inclusion practitioner roles. The similarity between role titles across the system was raised as a potential source of confusion.

• Action: Kate Stephens to raise the naming of the Best Start inclusion practitioner role with the local Department for Education partner due to the role being so similarly named to the Inclusion Partner role – this may cause some confusion for families.
• Action: Julia Bonell and Kate Stephens to meet to discuss PCFD involvement in the Best Start in Life programme.
• Action: Lauren Cole to schedule a further Best Start in Life update for early 2027, once the programme has had time to embed.

8. Local Area SEND Self Evaluation Form (SEF)

The Board reviewed the draft SEF and supporting information. Strengths included partnership leadership and governance, strategic co-production, understanding of need, locality working, a fully staffed Educational Psychology Service, the Healthy Child Programme, commissioning and sufficiency, quality assurance, and Alternative Provision oversight.

Ongoing challenges included rebuilding family confidence, consistency of SEN Support, keeping children in education, timeliness and quality of EHC needs assessments and plans, access to specialist health services, Preparing for Adulthood outcomes, and consistency of experience and outcomes.

Members welcomed the honest assessment and recognised the progress made, while stressing that improvements must be experienced by families. Suggestions included bringing forward the strategic overview in the supporting information (currently slide 12), strengthening the narrative around mental health, and more use of comparative national data and previous LA data (over the last 5 years) where available.

Action: Kellie Knott to make final amendments to the SEF in response to the Board’s comments and circulate the published version to Board members.

9. Communications Strategy for SEND reform and transformation

The draft strategy and implementation plan were reviewed. Board members supported the focus on accessibility, feedback loops and clear information based on the Four Cornerstones, but noted that further co-production with PCFD and children and young people is required.

The Board discussed a monthly communications steering group, greater use of video and social media, and the need to communicate both programme-level progress and everyday experiences. The plan should describe how communications will be received and demonstrate the impact of feedback without tokenism.

Members clarified that Key Adoption Indicators apply across the programme and should not sit solely within the communications section.

Members noted that updates on the SEND Improvement Section of the webpages should be happening earlier than March 2027. This will be reviewed when aligning the strategy to the transformation plan.

Board members noted that the plan is currently too local authority focussed and should look at all experiences (not just corporate).

• Action: Liz Halliday, Amy Bickford and Julia Bonell to meet to review the direction of the communications approach.
• Action: Liz Halliday and Melanie Coleman to align the communications strategy with the transformation plan.
• Action: Liz Halliday to work with Impower colleagues to continue developing the communications strategy, including different methods and channels.
• Action: Lauren Cole to schedule a further update on corporate and operational communications from Liz Halliday on 13 October 2026.

10. Preparing for Adulthood developments for 2026/27

Work is under way to create a shared narrative and joined-up approach to Preparing for Adulthood as part of the SEND inspection preparations. A task and finish group has been established to pull this together. Representatives have also been present at Our Journey meetings.

The next stage is to develop a preparing for adulthood strategy with clear short-, medium- and long-term priorities. This should be co-produced, tested with schools and supported by clear leadership and sufficient capacity.

• Action: The draft narrative to be concluded and developed into a co-produced Preparing for Adulthood strategy and workplan. Tandra Forster to share with Kellie Knott for the SEF.
• Action: Executive sponsorship and resourcing for the preparing for adulthood strategy workplan to be agreed outside the meeting, taking account of capacity.
• Action: Tandra Forster to be invited to the DSHH meeting on 13 October 2026 by Hannah Smart. This is to support co-production of the preparing for adulthood strategy.

11. SEND reform plan delivery and Experts at Hand

The Reform Plan was submitted on 19 June 2026. The programme was reset over the summer to focus on delivery, with an assurance framework being developed alongside the governance arrangements.

For Experts at Hand, process design has been completed, and the operating model, policies and procedures are with partners for sign-off. Digital access and recruitment to supporting roles are progressing. The pilot is expected to begin during the second part of the term, with a formal launch after the half-term break and initial activity in the North of Devon in early November.

Members noted that tight initial timescales limited co-production, but further opportunities will be built into the pilot during local delivery. Department for Education feedback was largely positive on the proposals, with further work required on locally relevant performance measures.

• Action: Lauren Cole to schedule a further Experts at Hand update after launch.
• Action: Liz Halliday to continue communications work ahead of experts at hand launch, including how communities can help shape the offer.

12. AOB

Members discussed the practicalities of rotating meeting venues. Further information is needed on suitable locations, travel expectations and venue requirements. The next meeting is likely to remain at County Hall.

Action: Board members to suggest potential future venues to Lauren Cole so these can be considered.
Action: Lauren Cole to include venue options as the first item at the next meeting.

Date for next meeting: Tuesday 13 October 2026