Contents
Attendance
- Adrian Fox, Head Accountant, Devon County Council
- Amy Howard, Assistant Director Adult Social Care Southern and Countywide, 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
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Hannah Pugliese, Head of Women’s 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
- Jo Turl, Director of Commissioning Primary, Community and Mental Health Care, NHS Devon
- 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, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Keith Bennett, Executive Principle of Marland School and Chair of SENtient Head Teachers Marland School, SENtient Head Teachers
- 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 & Waste, Devon County Council
- 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/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
Apologies
- Councillor Rob Hannaford, Chair of Children’s Scrutiny Committee, Devon County Council
- Liz Davenport, Chief Executive Torbay and South Devon NHS Foundation Trust, NHS Devon
- Vikki Hill, Devon NHS – Lead Neurodiversity Pathway, NHS Devon
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Kate Stephens, Head of Public Health Nursing, Devon County Council
- Simon Winward, Headteacher of Southbrook School, Southbrook School
- Sarah Pickering, Mill Water School, Mill Water School
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.
3. SEND Improvement Plan
A presentation was shared setting out the governance structure and how it links to Devon County Council and NHS Devon.* A Quality Performance Review Meeting (QPRM) is being introduced, to show clear progress at pace. Leaders expected to report on three elements to both the SEND Improvement Board and QPRM:
- What is working well
- What is not working
- What is the focus and actions for the next month.
A question raised, how adults are included in the structure and how the transitions work is aligned. The group agreed for adult’s social care to be included in the structure and to also report to the SEND Improvement Board and QPRM.
PCFD questioned how parent engagement and parent voice is included in the process.
All services are expected to have the views of children and young people and parent carers. However PCFD can attend QPRM to observe this is happening.
Reporting will be on a monthly basis, the Director of Children and Young People’s Futures will chair QPRM, and the programme manager will support colleagues to complete the reports of which will be a deep dive rather than a summary of activity.
Action: A schedule and cycle of reporting into each meeting to be established.
Members discussed how the Devon local area is working together collectively to make improvements. The Department for Education representatives were asked how they are working on the education and SEND issues within the South West? The Department for Education has overarching responsibilities for school, SEND and social care teams etc. Work is underway with schools, local authorities and welcome the opportunity to engage with colleagues to align the work underway and support the offer.
Members agreed clear communications are required around the governance structure for families.
Action: L Taylor to facilitate with colleagues communications of the governance structure for both internal and external audiences.
4. SEND Improvement Plan Update
Updates provided on the four sections as set out in the status report.*
The SEND Family Engagement sessions have been carried out over the past few weeks. It was felt they were very powerful sessions, highlighting the different family’s experiences and areas for the local area to develop to improve the experiences of children and young people and their families.
Action: The group agreed to have the engagement events as a focus for the next board.
A request was made to the board to change the name of the Autism section to Neurodivergence following suggestions at the SEND Family Engagement Events which was agreed.
Section D raised the need for wider membership in the meeting to include education/schools.
Action: R Shaw and H Pugliese to discuss education representation on the neurodivergence group.
5. Department for Education Monitoring Meeting
The SEND Improvement Plan was agreed before Easter, therefore the local area has its first monitoring meeting on Wednesday 3 May. This meeting is going to be different from the normal monitoring meetings and will cover:
- What improvement activity has been done since Ofsted revisit in May 2022?
- At a high level – what have we done since Ofsted revisit in May 2022 (highlight key activities and the difference for children, young people, and families)?
- Our strengths and how do we know (highlight good practice, key data, evidence, feedback from children, young people, parent carers)?
- Our challenges and how do we know (highlight priorities for improvement, key data, evidence, feedback from children, young people, parent carers)
- What are the plans to address the challenges (SMART / measurable)
- Discuss the SEND Improvement Plan including milestone measures
- Hear from the Parent Carer Forum, with particular reference to co-production work underway.
- Set out the ongoing arrangement for the formal monitoring review meetings.
The attendees will be D Manson, J Wooster, J Ross, H Pugliese, B Mack, J Turl, Councillor A Leadbetter, PCFD and T Doughty.
H Campbell added normal monitoring meetings would include asking for data and papers prior to the meeting. The first monitoring meeting is an opportunity for the local area to show what work has been happening and the next steps.
Action: Board members to receive a briefing note following the meeting.
6. Annual review and EHCP data and performance measures
Data shared highlighting annual review and EHCP data and performance measures.*
Analysis of refusal rates were undertaken and shared to the board. Further analysis required on each section.
Action: R Reece to complete further analysis on refusal rates.
The group raised the need for a high level overview of data, in addition consideration of the headlines and urgent actions, the issues to address and learn about what is being done and the impact.
Action: R Reece to develop a high level overview of the EHCP and annual review data. In addition to have this item at the start of each board meeting.
7 Any other business
Key message to communicate:
- A briefing for board members following the monitoring meeting.
- The governance structure and the QPRM.
* 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.