Agenda item

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Children and Family Services which provided a summary of the national and local context relating to Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) along with an overview of the plans to continuously develop and improve services to support children and families who were experiencing SEND.  A copy of the report marked ‘Agenda Item 10’ is filed with these minutes.

Arising from the discussion, the following comments were raised:

i)                The increase in the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) appeared to be continuing.  Work had been undertaken to look at the reasons for this and a number of factors had been identified.  One was where a child’s needs had potentially not been met within a school setting and had escalated.  Consideration was being given to building the SEND offer within schools to ensure that children were having their needs met in a mainstream setting where appropriate, albeit with additional support.  In response to a query, the Director said it was difficult to say generically whether an EHCP better met the health and care needs of children as this was dependent on a number of factors.  However, lots of work was taking place to improve cross working with social care and there was now a greater contribution for health partners so where a good EHCP was in place, it would meet the needs of the child.

ii)               A Parliamentary Review of SEND reforms was currently being undertaken.  Given the increase in the number of EHCPs over the last five years, and the resulting pressures on the system, this review was welcomed.

iii)             Concern was raised by a member that individual children were falling through the cracks and were not receiving an EHCP in a timely manner.  Assurance was sought that the improvements detailed in the report would prevent this from happening.  The Director outlined work being undertaken to ensure this did not happen, such as the Department’s more proactive response to children who were out of education to ensure their needs were still being met.  Whilst it was acknowledged that there were families in Leicestershire who were struggling, the Department’s ambition was to move services around to ensure that it could best respond to individual children’s needs who were out of education.

iv)             In response to a query, the Director confirmed that parents/carers, children and young people should always be involved in the development of an EHCP and the annual reviews of EHCPs.  There were also other things that the Parent Carer Forum were now involved in, such as the co-production of the Leicestershire SEND newsletter, although there was recognition that this could be improved.

v)              Members noted it was the intention that the development of the Oakfield site would allay any uncertainty around the delivery of the 50 place SEMH school.  This would hopefully be in place by September 2020.

vi)             Consultation had taken place with schools on the Council’s proposal to transfer funding between the School’s Block and High Needs Block of the Dedicated Schools Grant.  A meeting was due to take place with the School’s Forum on 6 November to seek approval for this, but early indications were that schools were not supportive of the transfer.  If the School’s Forum did not approve the proposal, agreement from the Secretary of State would need to be sought.

vii)           It was highlighted that the cumulative deficit on the High Needs Block was forecast to peak at around £13.5m in 2021/22 before it recovered through the work being delivered in the High Needs Development Plan.  If the County Council took no action, the trajectory of spend on the high needs block would be unsustainable. 

RESOLVED:

That the report be noted.