The commitment to make further urgent and sustained improvements to services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) was a focus of the council’s cabinet last week.
At a meeting on Tuesday 20 May, leading Bracknell Forest councillors looked at the draft plans to address priority areas for action, which Ofsted and The Care Quality Commission (CQC) inspectors noted in their recent report.
SEND services are provided by the local area partnership, made up of Bracknell Forest Council and NHS Frimley Integrated Care Board (ICB).
To address the 3 main areas of improvement outlined by inspectors, a draft action plan has been worked on by the partnership, including representatives from education, health and social care, Bracknell Parent Carer Forum, commissioning and incorporating feedback from other professionals, including headteachers.
This draft plan was looked at by cabinet councillors, who also considered and agreed a request for £350,000 of funding to provide additional staff to drive further improvements forward.
Once agreed, the action plan will set out how the partnership aims to:
- create a more effective partnership to make sure there is a clear process to better identify the needs of children and young people with SEND across the local area
- develop more effective and cohesive systems to identify and bridge gaps in commissioning arrangements to help children and young people with SEND achieve the best possible outcomes
- take immediate action to improve the quality of children and young people’s EHC plans and annual reviews
To support this work, and if funding is agreed by both the council and ICB, a new SEND improvement manager will be recruited, as well as new staff to support social care and SEND teams to focus primarily on improving the quality of educational, health and care plans (EHCPs).
To make sure improvements are on track, a new board has been set up. This is chaired by someone independent of the council and ICB. This board will provide challenge to improvement plans and will hold strategic leaders to account.
Additionally, a new group will be established to provide political oversight of the SEND improvement programme. The group will be made up of representatives from various political parties and will offer strategic advice and challenge around reporting and developing the next SEND strategy.
Cllr Roy Bailey, cabinet member for children and young people, said:
“The recent SEND inspection report highlighted systemic failures in the service that we provide to our children, young people and their families. I regret the upset caused by the issues raised in this report and have apologised unreservedly on behalf of the council. Alongside our health partners, we have made a firm recommitment to continue to make sustained improvements to the services available and to ensure all children and young people with SEND and their families feel confident their voice is being heard and acknowledged.
“Since we received feedback from Ofsted and CQC inspectors in April, the partnership has been working at speed to look at how we can urgently and effectively address the three main areas of priority outlined.
“Councillors looked at the latest draft action plan at a meeting of the cabinet last Tuesday. The plan aims to address all the urgent areas for improvement in a sustainable way - further building on the steady improvements made in recent years.
“The cabinet also approved funding for new staff, in addition to the extra staff we have recruited, to really drive improvements forward.
“We know that we have more work to do, and this is an improvement journey rather than an overnight process, but the new action plan, new governance processes and the possibility of new staff are all positive steps in the right direction.
“Additionally, I have committed to setting up engagement sessions with parents, carers and our young people with SEND to understand their concerns and make sure their voices are heard.”
Once agreed, the local area partnership’s action plan will be submitted to the Department for Education for consideration. A monitoring inspection will be carried out in around 18 months to make sure the partnership is on track with the actions identified in the plan.
Engagement sessions with Cllr Bailey for parents, carers and young people with SEND will be promoted in due course.
Additional information
Local SEND services are provided by a range of organisations and professionals including:
- staff from education settings like schools, pre-schools and colleges
- health services, including the local NHS integrated care board
- the council, including children’s and adults social care and SEND team
All the organisations involved in providing SEND services, which make up the local area partnership, are committed to making further sustained improvements so that our children and young people with SEND and their families get the services and support they need and deserve.
The Bracknell Forest Parent Carer Forum provides challenge, experiences and knowledge of SEND families' perspectives when working with the partnership.