Contents
Attendance
- Amy Bickford, Senior Participation Officer, Devon County Council
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Charlotte Halliday, Head of HR Operations, Devon County Council
- Cllr Andrew Leadbetter, Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Devon County Council
- Cllr Rob Hannaford, Chair of Children’s Scrutiny Committee, Devon County Council
- Damien Jones, Deputy Director – Transport Operations, Environment and Waste, Devon County Council
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Hannah Pugliese, Head of Women and Children’s Commissioning, NHS Devon
- Heather Campbell, South-West Lead for SEND, Department for Education
- Jackie Ross, Interim SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
- Joanne Siney, Head of Service – Disabled Children Service, Devon County Council
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD), Parent Carer Forum Devon
- Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Kate Stephens, Head of Public Health Nursing, Devon County Council
- Keith Thompson, SEN and Disability Professional Adviser, Department for Education
- Liz Halliday, Internal Communications and Relations Stakeholder Manager, Devon County Council
- Louise Taylor, SEND Local Area Programme Manager, Devon County Council
- Meg Booth, Director of Transport Operations, Environment and Waste, Devon Council
- Melanie Walker, Chief Executive, Devon Partnership NHS Trust
- Rachel Shaw, Head of Education and Learning (Delivery), Devon County Council
- Richard Reece, Education Business Systems and Contract Manager, Devon County Council
- Shayna Stanbury, SEND Programme Officer, Devon County Council
- Steve Preston, Managing Director, Mime Consulting
- Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care, Devon County Council
- Trevor Doughty, Chair of SEND Improvement Partnership Board, Independent
- Victoria Mitchell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD), Parent Carer Forum Devon
Apologies
- Jassi Broadmeadow, Deputy Chief Officer – Children’s Services and Head of Social Care, Devon County Council
- Jo Turl, Director of Commissioning Primary, Community and Mental Health Care, NHS Devon
- Liz Davenport, Chief Executive, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Devon
- Nick Crippa, Early Help Improvement Lead, Devon County Council
- Simon Winward, Headteacher of Southbrook School
- Steve Brown, Director of Public Health, Devon County Council
- Vikki Hill, Devon NHS-Lead Neurodiversity Pathway, NHS Devon
- Tony Parker, Head of Communications, Devon County Council
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
T Doughty welcomed the group and a round of introductions took place.
2. Review of the previous meetings minutes and actions
The group reviewed and agreed on the minutes of the previous meeting and the action log.
3. Case study: Education, Health, and Care Plans
A PowerPoint was shared which covered a background, the Warnock Report, the role of parents and the expectation of the Children and Families Act 2014, the way forward, what the EHCP process is, national challenge, EHCP proposals and EHC Needs assessments.
4. National benchmarking
Benchmarking data was shared covering an analysis of Devon’s SEND Services and Education, Health, and Care Plans.
5. Annual review and EHCP data and performance measures
Data was shared highlighting annual review and EHCP data and performance measures.
Comments and questions below were raised on items 3, 4 and 5:
- Devon County Council’s Chief Executive and senior leaders met with school leaders. Concerns were raised around cultural inclusion issues and school leaders committed to coproducing going forward.
- A request was made to express the data and understand what the statistics mean for children, young people, and their families, what is the impact and is there a link to localities.
- Identify the charts or information where the national average is rising to the same percentage as Devon.
- Next steps need to be identified, we have a statutory responsibility as a champion for children, young people, and their families to influence change. This to include grouping into packages, understand line management and result in an influential discussion.
- Request was made to have data on those electively home educated on the source of the requests, the volume of each area received.
6. SEND Improvement Plan
Devon County Council’s Chief Executive suggested this will be a five-year improvement journey, with two to three years addressing the more serious areas. There are issues across the whole system and this plan must address the four areas of weakness and be coproduced. There is extensive work underway with PCFD and all parent representative groups through robust meetings which have been really constructive.
The local area is learning from families and partners regarding the responsibility we have and the lack of trust in the local area. Work is being carried out to ensure the strategic governance is in place with the resources and accountability.
There are a number of functions to get this right, making sure the plan is at the most senior level of organisations can be monitored and are accountable to ensure all professionals are on the right page. The plan will be a document and a process forward to articulate our ambition and realism of taking the plan forward.
It was raised there are a lot of key stakeholders with different perspectives and priorities, who need to be communicated with and presented the plan with next steps, to understand the journey.
Discussions were held around the deadline for the final plan to be shared with the Department for Education. Members agreed Thursday 30 March.
7. 0 – 25 SEND Team Workforce Strategy Action Plan
The 0 – 25 SEND Team Workforce Strategy Action Plan has a particular focus on the 0 – 25 Team with a number of vacancies. Recently there have been 44 applications for case workers and 32 for area coordinators which have improved significantly from the start of the year, interviews will begin in early April.
There is further work to be carried out with health partners, education colleagues and PCFD, linking closely with strategy.
The group agreed training is a specific area of development required along with health and wellbeing.
A request was made to include young people in the recruitment strategy.
Action: 0 – 25 SEND Team Workforce Strategy Action Plan to be added to the forward planner for a future meeting (S Stanbury).
Any other business
None.