Attendance
- Brian Gale, SEND Adviser, DfE
- Councillor Lois Samuel, Cabinet member for SEND, Devon County Council
- Emma O’Connell, Children and Family Health Devon Acting Director
- Frank O’Friel, Lead for Neurodiversity, NHS Devon
- Hannah Wicks, Senior Media and PR Officer, Devon County Council
- Jennie Harvey, Head Teacher for Lampard Community School and Chair of DSSH (Devon Special School Heads)
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
- Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, Devon County Council
- Kellie Knott, SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
- Keri Denton, Director of Performance and Partnerships, Devon County Council
- Liam Ennis, Intervention Case Lead for SEND and Social Care, Department for Education
- Liz Wood, Assistant Director for Disability Services, Adult Disability Leadership, 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
- Matthew Thorpe, Deputy Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Melanie Coleman, Programme Manager for SEND Transformation Programme, Devon County Council
- Mike Bomford, Media and PR Manager (Strategic), Devon County Council
- Phill Adams, SEND Assistant Director, Devon County Council
- Rachel Shaw, CEO Exeter Learning Academy Trust
- Shayna Stanbury, SEND Programme Officer/minutes, Devon County Council
- Trevor Doughty, Chair of SEND Strategic Partnership Board, Independent
- Victoria Mitchell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
Apologies
- Amy Bickford, SEND Participation Lead, Devon County Council
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Councillor Tracy Adams, Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Committee, Devon County Council
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Jack Newton, Deputy Director – Education and Schools, Devon County Council
- Paul Walker, CEO, First Federation Multi-Academy Trust and Chair of Devon Schools Leadership Services (DSLS)
- Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Improvement, NHS Devon
- 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 introductions 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. Embedding the Four Cornerstones and the Local Area SEND Strategy
K Knott provided information on the background of the SEND Strategy which is included in the paper along with the milestones and terms of reference.
K Knott asked for agreement to the recommendations (1) for the oversight committee to be a formal part of the governance structure, reporting directly to the SEND Strategic Partnership Board on a termly basis and (2) the board agree with the milestones.
Discussions were held around the communications for the SEND Strategy, M Tucker questioned health’s input. K Knott raised health needs to work with Devon on their communications channels, Devon colleagues have tried to reach out. F O’Friel raised health have recognised they need to do further work with the communication of the SEND Strategy have engage partners with it.
Action: Health colleagues to feedback at a future board the communication methods and engagement of the SEND Strategy (E O’Connell / J Pritchard).
L Wood raised the need to link in with adult’s services. Action: M Bomford and H Wicks to develop the communications plan to include education colleagues.
Board members agreed the recommendation in the paper.
4. Governance Review
P Adams provided a high-level overview of the paper. The survey will be going out to partners shortly followed by a one-to-one discussion. Findings from this will be brought back to the March board, followed by a formal restructure and governance at the April board.
L Ennis advised the Department for Education is working on policy and systems, envisioning changes in approach from April onwards. The budgets however have not been confirmed, and work is underway how the Department utilises budgets and enhance support. The Department for Education is concerned with the pace of the work in Devon and hopefully a way of working in practice will be available next month to support the area.
J Wooster questioned whether the Department for Education is having conversations with the Department for Health regarding the challenges in Devon? L Ennis raised there are discussions at a more senior level on system reform however not at an operational level.
Action: L Ennis to share more information on the discission at a senior level on system reform between the Department for Education and Department for Health once confirmed with J Wooster.
5. APP (Accelerated Progress Plan) Monitoring Meeting
The next APP monitoring meeting with the Department for Education and NHS England is scheduled for 31 March. A letter has been sent by the Department for Education setting out the next steps they would like to cover in the monitoring meeting. Leads of those areas met to discuss gathering the evidence required.
K Knott advised members we are awaiting for confirmation from the Department for Education for the local area to review the APP to ensure it is fit for purpose and meets the needs of children, young people and their families. The aim is to have a draft version of the revised APP at the monitoring meeting.
M Tucker raised the importance of ICB senior leaders attending the monitoring meeting.
6. SEND Transformation programme progress report.
Programme overview
M Coleman provided an overview of the programme, with the successes and challenges, noting there is a risk to the programme due to the cooperate projects and programme team going through redundancies with a significant reduction of project managers which could affect the SEND Transformation Programme. P Adams raised there are many directorates across the local authority which are going through restructure and redundancies. Currently no further intervention is required around this risk.
K Knott questioned the multi-agency pathways success when compared to the data dashboard, number is increasing. F O’Friel raised there is a higher number of requests coming into the system than out.
J Bonell requested when referring to the Autism Wait list Recovery, ‘Wait Lists’ is included.
Discussions where held around the programme report layout. Action: P Adams and M Coleman to review the programme report.
B Gale raised how new developments or additional SEND work is incorporated into the programme and how this board has reassurance. J Bonell raised the importance of how well we are evaluating the work and how next steps are planned.
J Wooster raised the importance of addressing the core SEND issues in the SEND Transformation Programme and the need to ensure health colleagues and partners are taking more ownership.
Milestone tracker
M Coleman provided an update on the key milestones.
Delivery tracker
The month 10 financial savings have been updated and are reflected in this slide.
V Mitchell raised there is no reference to the impact both financially and on families. L Wood suggested the Four Cornerstones being reflected in the impact.
K Denton raised concerns with the green arrows as the overall programme savings budget is in the deficit, therefore suggested considering this when reporting.
EHCP Dashboard
K Knott raised the capacity in the team has reduced from December and the backlog of Educational Psychologist advice is increasing.
Discussions were held around the significant reduction in the amount of money children in Devon get compared to the rest of the country. K Denton raised district colleagues agreed to do MP engagement and lobbying around the amount Devon children and young people get in funding compared to other or neighbouring local authorities. In addition, the council has agreed to auto-enrolment in time for the October census, working with district colleagues.
J Bonell and R Shaw raised this is really good news and will make a significant difference for both schools and families.
J Wooster raised the rate of EHCP’s data benchmarking, Devon is the third highest in the Southwest and there is a concern in the Southwest as a whole is an outlier compared to the rest of the country. J Wooster suggested consideration is required regarding the health system in Devon compared to the rest of the country.
Discussions were held around children and young people’s mental health and the growing demand in primary schools in social, emotional, mental health. E O’Connell offered a colleague could attend the board to present and support with delivering this item. Action: Add children and young people’s mental health and the growing demand in primary schools in social, emotional, mental health as a main agenda item on the forward planner.
Average costs dashboard
Discussions were held around the average costings and the need for context to sit alongside. Action: P Adams and M Coleman to review the average costs dashboard slide and consider context alongside the figures.
DfE agreed delivery targets
Discussions were held around the conflict between the Accelerated Progress Plan performance improvement and the safety valve is a challenge and clearing the backlog will result in a significant amount of money.
Communications
M Bomford provided an update on the communications sent out this month.
7. AOB
Discussions were held around the dashboard and suggestions were made for further context to sit alongside the figures.
Key messages
- Children’s mental health as a key item at a future meeting.
- School funding issues for Devon – messages to the Department for Education.
Date for next meeting: Thursday 27 March 2025