Draft
These are the draft minutes of the SEND Strategic Partnership Board. This note will be removed once the minutes are signed off at the next meeting.
Attendance
- Amy Bickford, SEND Participation Lead, Devon County Council
- Angie Sinclair, Director of Finance and Public Value, Devon County Council
- Brian Gale, SEND Adviser, DfE
- Claire Merchant-Jones, Head of SEND Operations, Devon County Council
- Councillor Lois Samuel, Cabinet member for SEND, Devon County Council
- Derek Blackford, Head Accountant, Devon County Council
- Donna Manson, Chief Executive, Devon County Council
- Emma O’Connell, Children and Family Health Devon Acting Director
- Hannah Wicks, Senior Media and PR Officer, Devon County Council
- Julia Bonell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
- Kellie Knott, SEND Strategic Director, Devon County Council
- Keri Denton, Director of Performance and Partnerships, Devon County Council
- Mark Tucker, Senior Learning Disability and Autism Programme Assurance Manager and SEND Lead, NHS England
- 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
- Sally Heath, Deputy Director of Business and Transformation Service, Devon County Council
- Shayna Stanbury, SEND Programme Officer/minutes, Devon County Council
- Su Smart, Director of Women and Children’s Improvement, NHS Devon
- Trevor Doughty, Chair of SEND Strategic Partnership Board, Independent
- Victoria Mitchell, Co-chair of Parent Carer Forum Devon (PCFD)
Apologies
- Councillor Tracy Adams, Chair of the Children’s Scrutiny Committee, Devon County Council
- Jack Newton, Deputy Director – Education and Schools, Devon County Council
- Jennie Harvey, Head Teacher for Lampard Community School and Chair of DSSH (Devon Special School Heads)
- Jo Pritchard, Designated Clinical Officer for SEND, NHS Devon
- Julian Wooster, Director of Children and Young People’s Futures, 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
- Paul Walker, CEO, First Federation Multi-Academy Trust and Chair of Devon Schools Leadership Services (DSLS)
- 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. Neurodiversity Strategy
S Smart shared the Neurodiversity Strategy with members and suggested the implementation plan is being developed and will be brought to a future board once complete.
Comments and questions from member:
- P Adams raised Devon will be responsible for 18 – 25-year-olds with neurodiverse conditions, employability and transitions which links to the neurodiversity strategy and suggested discussing the link. Action: P Adams and S Smart to meet to discuss the link between the neurodiversity strategy and additional responsibilities with neurodiverse conditions, employability and transitions.
- D Manson raised whether the strategy needs to be a partnership document and questioned the extend to how the strategy sits within the national need for change with the white paper. E O’Connell suggested there are local pieces of work supported however wider work is required.
- R Shaw raised the need for school to be reviewing policies in line with neurodiversity and providing space safes for those children with needs.
- M Tucker questioned where the link is between the strategy and the area of significant weakness raised in the 2018 and 2022 SEND Inspection, raising the need to ensure the strategy meets the requirements set out in the area of significant weakness and there is evidence support will be provided to children and young people and their families – “Weaknesses in the identification, assessment, diagnosis and support of those children and young people with autism spectrum disorder (ASD).”
- K Knott raised there is not clear and significant oversight of the reporting of the progress of the waiting list which does not give board members confidence. In addition, questioned the link to the Four Cornerstones in the SEND Strategy which should be woven into everything we do. K Knott asked for the specific mention of Educational Psychologists to be removed, no other service has been specifically picked out. Action: S Smart to remove the comment regarding Educational Psychologists from the neurodiversity strategy.
- V Mitchell raised the strategy will be seen by some parents as a Devon issue, it is not seen by some communities this strategy is from the NHS and will therefore be suggested Devon has not done this strategy right. This shows the lack of communication to families why something is being done or why it hasn’t. There is a need for specific communications around this. K Knott agreed and advised members Devon Communication Team have reached out to partners asking for a partnership approach which has not yet been resolved. H Wicks raised partners are not proactive in sending information or sharing progress which can be shared to children and young people and their families. E O’Connell suggested looking into this outside the meeting. Action: H Wicks to provide an update on partnership communications at the next board.
- J Bonell raised the importance of information to go alongside the strategy as it does not provide information on what is going to be done and when by which does not build confidence.
- A Bickford questioned whether there will be young person friendly communications to this, setting out what is happening what how they can measure impact.
- B Gale raised the strategy does not explicitly set out the support for children and young people in the document where it does for support for parents and schools.
D Manson will not sign off the document as it does not meet the area of significant weakness raised in the inspection and the lack of implementation plan to go alongside and the need for communications alongside. This decision is not a reflection of the context of the strategy and recognised the huge amount of work put into it. D Manson questioned what the realistic implementation plan is and timescales for receiving.
D Manson raised we do not have the confidence in the areas/priorities national Government want the local area to focus on. Devon has and can evidence putting in an additional £20 million into SEND however partner services have not. S Smart raised the business case has not yet been responded to and not received organisational commitment.
Members agreed not to sign off the neurodiversity strategy. D Manson raised the importance of having this document ahead of the Accelerated Progress Plan Monitoring Meeting and brought back to the next board. Action: S Smart to take the comments members have made back to the ICB and revise the strategy, develop implementation plan alongside and communications ahead of the next SEND Strategic Partnership Board and ready for the evidence deadline for the monitoring meeting (16 May).
4. SEND Transformation Programme reset and governance review
S Heath provided an updated on the change process of the programme.
P Adams raised there is a fundamental need to review the programme and boards. Work is moving ahead with strategic partnership board, with 1:1 meeting arranged with members. P Adams will bring a comprehensive review of the process including findings from members, financial overview and a review of the dashboards.
D Manson raised the importance of milestone targets and actions in order to achieve them. If the milestones are not being achieved to set out what is needed to get there.
T Doughty raised it would be helpful to understand any additional expectations required by regulating colleagues and to be supported with this.
5. SEND Transformation programme progress report.
6. AOB
- V Mitchell raised the chat cannot be accessed externally. S Stanbury to ensure any information in the chat is included in the minutes.
- E O’Connell raised the external CFHD newsletter was launched through social channels. Within the post it was outlined that people could sign up to receive this via the comms email address. The first one went out on 5 March and is quarterly. The newsletter is also on our website under news and events: CFHD News: Issue 1 – Children and Family Health Devon. It was also touched on in the stakeholder event at the end of last year that we would be launching it early 2025.
Date for next meeting: Thursday 20 May 2025