Contents
Attendance
- Amy Bickford, Senior Participation Officer, Devon County Council
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Ben Williams, Senior Management Information Officer, Devon County Council
- Beverley Mack, Children’s Alliance Director, Children and Family Health Devon
- Councillor Andrew Leadbetter, Cabinet Member for Childrens Services, Devon County Council
- Councillor John Hart, Leader of the Council, Devon County Council
- Damien Jones, Deputy Director – Transport Operations, Environment and Waste, Climate Change, Environment and Transport, Devon County Council
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Gill Lowman, SEN Team Manager, Devon County Council
- Hannah Pugliese, Head of Women’s and Children’s Commissioning, NHS Devon
- Jackie Ross, Interim SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
- Joanne Siney, Head of Service – Disabled Children’s Service, Devon County Council
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD), Parent Carer Forum Devon
- Julian Wooster, Interim Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Kate Stephens, Head of Public Health Nursing, Devon County Council
- Keith Bennett, Executive Principle of Marland School and Chair of SENtient Head Teachers, Marland School and SENtient Head Teachers
- Keith Thompson, SEN and Disability Professional Adviser, Department for Education (DfE)
- Kellie Knott, Head of Vulnerable Childrens Unit – South West, Department for Education (DfE)
- Liz Halliday, Childrens Services Improvement Communications Lead, Devon County Council
- Louise Taylor, SEND Local Area Programme Manager, 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 - Meg Booth, Director – Transport Operations, Environment and Waste, Devon County Council
- Paul Walker, Schools: Safety Valve, First Federation
- Rachel Shaw, Head of Education and Learning (Delivery), Devon County Council
- Rob Gasson, CEO Wave Academy, Wave Academy
- Sarah Miller, SEN Speech and Language Advisor, Devon County Council
- Sarah Pickering, Mill Water School, Mill Water School
- Shayna Stanbury, SEND Programme Officer/minutes, Devon County Council
- Tandra Forster, Director of Integrated Adult Social Care, Devon County Council
- Tony Parker, Head of Communications and Media, 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
- Vikki Hill, Devon NHS – Lead Neurodiversity Pathway, NHS Devon
Apologies
- Councillor Rob Hannaford, Chair of Children’s Scrutiny Committee, Devon County Council
- Liz Davenport, Chief Executive, Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust
- Richard Reece, Education Business Systems and Contract Manager, Devon County Council
1. Welcome, introductions and apologies
T Doughty welcomed the group and a round of introduction took place.
2. Review of the previous meeting’s minutes and actions
The group reviewed and agreed the minutes of the previous meeting and the action log and provided updates.
Stuart Collins has been appointed as the Director of Children and Young Peoples Futures, in a permanent position, and will be working with J Wooster over the summer period.
Devon County Council has been engaging with a number of Government departments regarding the Safety Valve discussing how the work involved and how it will be achieved with a clear plan to go through council by September. A presentation is going to be provided at the next board covering staffing resources and matters of improvement.
Department for Education representation shared a letter will be sent today addressed to D Manson and D Allcorn on the outcome of the Monitoring meeting. The summary headline is sufficient progress has not been made in the last year. Members agreed to share the letter to board members and communications will be developed to send out externally.
3. EHCP data and performance measures
A PowerPoint was shared on the Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) data.* There are 476 Educational Psychologist (EP) reports overdue, with 670 requested. Ongoing recruitment is underway required to the EP service.
The EHCP data is:
- Health: 87 reports were over due in April and 107 in May
- Care: 187 reports are overdue in April and 205 in May.
EP Service:
- April: 104 requests in, 4 completed
- May: 154 requests in, 29 completed.
The board questioned what is being addressed to ensure reports are being completed on time? Children and Family Health Devon suggested for health, a new SEND Coordinator post is being created, process redesign and conversations are being held with Integrated Care Board (ICB) colleagues around how the SEND resources are collectively being used across the system. NHS business intelligence is coordinating with the local authority dashboard.
Department for Education representation suggested it is useful to see the detail and have a discussion around the data. However it was raised Devon regionally is an outlier with the number of EHCPs coming in, therefore the partnership need to work together to address this.
School representation has been clear and transparent to schools and setting regarding the number of referrals that are coming in. The language of advice needs to be changed, promoting outcomes.
The group discussed the need to strengthen universal provision, support schools to meet need and make reasonable adjustments and the underlying issues around curriculum and provision.
4. Case study on neurodiversity
Health colleagues shared a PowerPoint on neurodiversity.*
D Manson suggested the need to ensure the governance of children’s services has a place in the Integrated Care Board (ICB), which has been raised to the ICB Chief Executives.
5. SEND Improvement Plan status report
The section leads provided an update on each section along with the status report.
Section A
- Dates are being set in June for the Quality Performance Review Meetings (QPRM).
- DfE colleagues have identified Bedford as a support partner and senior leaders in Devon are connecting with Essex County Council Director of Education and SEND Lead.
Section B
- A revised version of the Communications Strategy will come to the board in July.
- The 0–25 team are beginning to work on a communications protocol.
6. Any other business
Key message to communicate:
- Neurodiversity PowerPoint
- A recognition of the structural challenges not just in the EHCP processes but also in Commissioning and provision.
- Feedback from the DfE in their letter following the monitoring meeting, reassuring all of the DfE’s involvement in SEND.
* Presentations
Presentations are available on request. Please email childsc.sendimprovementprogramme-mailbox@devon.gov.uk. Please include in your email:
- which presentations you would like to receive
- from which Improvement Board meeting
- if you have accessibility needs.