Attendance
- Adrian Fox, Head Accountant, Devon County Council
- Councillor Lois Samuel, Cabinet member for SEND, Devon County Council
- Damien Jones, Transport Operations, Environment and Waste, Devon County Council
- Emma O’Connell, Deputy Director, Children and Family Health Devon
- Heather Campbell, Regional Team Manager South–West and South–East, Department for Education
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
- Keith Bennett, Executive Principal of Marland School and Chair of Devon Special School Heads (DSSH)
- Kellie Knott, SEND Improvement Director, Devon County Council
- Melanie Coleman, Project Manager for SEND Transformation Programme, Devon County Council
- Mike Bomford, Media and PR Manager (Strategic), Devon County Council
- Rachel Shaw, Devon School Leadership Services
- Shayna Stanbury, SEND Programme Officer/minutes, Devon County Council
- Stuart Collins, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Su Smart, Deputy Director of Commissioning – Out of Hospital, NHS Devon
- Trevor Doughty, Chair of SEND Improvement Partnership Board, Independent
- Victoria Mitchell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
Apologies
- Amy Bickford, Senior Participation Officer, Devon County Council
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Dan Carey, SEND Case Lead, Devon County Council
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Paul Walker, Chair of Devon Schools Leadership Service (DSLS) and First Federation CEO
- Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care, Devon County Council
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
T Doughty welcomed the group to the board and a round of introduction took place.
2. Review of previous meeting minutes and actions
The group agreed accuracy of the minutes of the previous meeting, actions were discussed, and updates provided.
3. SEND Transformation programme progress report
Progress update
M Coleman provided an update on each of the red, amber RAG status.
- Discussions were held around the Special Schools Outreach. There are challenges to meet the September deadline and budget envelopes therefore an expression of interest will be going out to schools to understand who can be involved for academic year 24/25. There has been a change of direction to have a focus on expertise rather than generic. This will have a positive impact on those schools who genuinely want the support.
- Board members discussed the slow progress of the SEN Statutory Processes. K Knott talked about the capacity of the team, the work being done on a detailed review and a duty of care to the staff in the team, which is of the most importance.
Quality assurance (QA) – Essex has provided Devon a QA framework of which phase one is underway. Consideration and planning is required around how we implement the 4 tiers of the framework. - Board member requested a governance structure of the SEND Transformation Programme adapted to include colleagues job titles and their role in the programme.
- Discussions held around Partnerships for Inclusion of Neurodiversity in Schools (PINS) and the importance of using this opportunity to do something different.
Risks/issues
The risks were raised to the board members.
Discussions were held around the number and/or length of time senior responsible officers are expected to attend the meetings and whether the programme team is able to support the senior responsible officers in a different way. Action: Programme team and K Knott to review the programme approach to ensure meeting attendance and reporting is at time efficient for SROs as possible.
It was also raised it would be helpful to understand the expectation of meetings when they are hybrid, in person or virtual.
Board members discussed how the local area work with families and the funding and resource to support coproduction and engagement. Going forward the local area will be clear on the priorities each year on coproduction and therefore the resource around that.
R Shaw advised there will be some schools which may have spare rooms which can be used to support the local area with a space to work with parent carers. Action: R Shaw agreed to go out to schools for a commitment to use any empty rooms they have for the local area to work with parent carers.
Accelerated Progress Plan (APP)
Updates were provided on the SEND Accelerated Progress Plan.
SEND Dashboard
Discussions were held around the data presented in the SEND Dashboard.
Action: M Coleman to discuss with data colleagues whether to remove the projected data, how the data is presented so it is similar to Children’s Social Care dashboard and having data from the last two years to compare between previous and current data.
Department for Education colleague questioned the reason why a limited number of updates were provided for APP this time? Health colleagues raised difficulties with reporting to three local authorities with different requirements, timescales and priorities. Discussions were held around reviewing the clarity of reporting and the expectations, do we have the right level of reporting with the right information being requested and the expectations of the reports.
4. Financial Management Systems
The senior responsible officer provided an update on the work carried out and the progress of the Financial Management System work strand.
Parent Carer Forum welcomed the progress report and suggested families would also welcome this information to understand how money may not be spent in the right way. Discussions were held around anomalies and ensuring provision is funded from the right budgets. In addition, the transition from children’s services to adult’s social care and understanding the forecasting.
Work is also being carried out looking at the mediation and tribunal process and the experiences of families who have gone and are going through. PCFD offered a group of families who colleagues can talk to about their journey.
K Knott advised the group a piece of work is underway to develop more effective multi–agency decision making. Currently the costs for health and care are currently sat in education and there is a need for joint decision making across social care and health.
Discussions where held around coproduction opportunities for this area of work of which it was agreed working with young people and parent carers, understanding their experiences as detailed case studies to improve processes both financially and ensuring the right provision is given to children and young people.
5. Stakeholder update
M Bomford shared an update on media stories and the forward plan.
6. AOB
.Topics at next board:
- System Co-ordination
- SEN Statutory Processes
S Collins advised members the Department for Education should hopefully be providing feedback on the Safety Valve this week.
Date for next meeting: Wednesday 17 April 2024