To consider the submitted report on the above.

(Note:  Members of the Children and Young People’s Overview and Scrutiny Board have been invited to attend this meeting.)

The Board reviewed the submitted report and heard evidence from the Cabinet Member for Children’s Services, Director of Children’s Services, Head of Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND), Divisional Director of Safeguarding, Deputy Director of Commissioning Out of Hospital NHS Devon and Play Torbay in respect on the annual review of the Key Performance Indicators for the SEND Local Area Strategy.

The Cabinet Member for Children’s Services thanked the Scrutiny Lead for Children’s Services for representing him at a recent review meeting in Bristol.

The Board asked a number of questions in relation to how dysfunctional services had been over a number of years; why more progress had not been made against the Written Statement of Action and five priority areas from the SEND Strategy, particularly around the ‘becoming an adult’ section; the lack of detail around performance; what was the joint vision for health, education and social care; if the graduated response was working, why was there an increase in exclusions, suspensions, absence rates and meetings with the Youth Justice Board for children with SEND; SEND was a national issue what conversations/lobbying was happening with the Government; were all Partners on the same page and supporting the direction of travel; what impact was there on children who were elected home educated or not attending school in terms of their education, social and emotional wellbeing; and have the reasons for elected home education been explored and what action was being taken to address parents’ concerns.

It was highlighted that the vision was SEND was everyone’s business and that partners (including the community and voluntary sector), Councillors, parents, Carers and young people all had an important role in making improvements to the support for all children and young people regardless of if they have SEND.   The Local Area Partnership acknowledged that they had not made the progress they had wanted to in addressing the findings from the Inspection in November 2021 and the Written Statement of Action and would be inspected under a new framework in the next six months.  It was likely that the Local Area Partnership would be judged between Outcome 2 and Outcome 3.

There had been difficulties bringing some Education System Leaders together on the journey due to the fragmented structure of the School System but that this was starting to improve with them joining some of the Priority Action Groups.  Parents were saying that they get a different approach from one school to another and there needs to be more consistency across the whole education system.  Roadshows were being held at schools to speak to parents, Carers and young people but it was highlighted that some of the schools had multiple entrances and that the Roadshows could be missing lots of people due to this.  It was agreed that this would be reviewed to ensure engagement with as many people as possible.  Support was being provided to schools to encourage them to take early intervention when children identified as having additional needs and early steps meetings were now being held before statutory assessment requests to review the support and appropriate action to be taken to support the child’s needs.  This was welcomed as previously parents thought the only way to be heard and get support for their children was through an Education and Health Care Plan.

Ongoing work was being undertaken with the Local Area, Local Government Association, Department for Education, Local Members of Parliament, Ofsted, and regional partners/colleagues to raise awareness of the issues impacting Torbay, which was also raised in Parliament in January as well as concerns over future funding and sustainability for the Family Hubs, as well as sharing good practice.

Members acknowledged the progress made against the five priority areas highlighted in the report, with small improvements being seen by some children, parents and Carers but that notable changes would take time to embed.  More work was required at pace in order to embed cultural change and inclusion, consistency of practice and improved governance and commissioning.

The Board felt that more could be done to promote the work of the Family Hubs and the support available for families with children with additional needs.

Resolved (unanimously):

1.         that the outcome of the work with the Local Government Association Advisors be reported to the Board in November together with an analysis of the 500 home elected young people to understand the reasons why and if there are any children missing from the list of home educated or attending school and what action is being taken to identify and support these young people and their families;

2.         that the Director of Children’s Services be requested to put together information to assist all Councillors to enable them to be encouraged to engage with schools in their areas including considering becoming school governors and to promote the SEND Strategy and work of the Family Hubs; and

3.         that the Cabinet be recommended:

1.         to explore further support around transition and consistency around schools including early years to primary phase, as well as primary to secondary and secondary to further education;

2.         to work with the voluntary and community sector to see what support they can provide to children and young people with SEND to help hear the voice of the excluded and home educated young persons; and

3.         to continue to lobby Government on the long term sustainability and funding of the Family Hubs who provide vital support to children and their families.