To receive Report No.109/2018 from the Director for People and to receive a presentation from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager: Early Help and Inclusion, Louise Crookenden Johnson, SEND Capital Programme Manager and Lesley Hawkes, Aiming High Lead Officer.

Report No. 109/2018 was received from the Director for People

The purpose of the report was to update the Scrutiny Panel on the developments and performance of the SEND and inclusion service and to note the drivers which required a whole system change.

A presentation on the report was received from Kevin Quinn, Service Manager: Early Help and Inclusion, Louise Crookenden Johnson, SEND Capital Programme Manager and Lesley Hawkes, Aiming High Lead Officer. The presentation has been attached to these minutes.

During the presentation the following points were noted:

·         SEND provision cost the Council in the region of £4 million

·         The Council wanted to grow a more organic Rutland approach with an in county service that offered better detection and early prevention, better trained staff and customized facilities.

·         It was important that a better awareness of the resources and the help available (the Local Offer) was promoted.

·         Learning from others and adopting best practice would help the Council improve.

·         Generally there was a feeling that the service was moving in the right direction although it still faced challenges.

·         It was paramount to ensure that the voice of the child and the parent were influencing the plan.

·         If parents had complaints about the plan they were offered mediation. The mediation was conducted by an external provider, Global Services.

·         If mediation was unsuccessful parents could move to the first tier tribunal process, although every attempt was made to avoid this process and engage with parents.

·         A new service of educational psychology, provided by partners in psychology, had been commissioned and had received excellent feedback from schools. There had been positive parental engagement in the process with a parental panel as part of the interview process who had designed their own questions.

·         The term ‘Local Offer’ referred to all of the provision of services by all partners, including schools, RCC,  and health services, that was available to children with or without an Educational Health Care Plan (EHCP)

·         The Council had a statutory duty to publish this information and had developed a Local Offer website that was bolted on to the Rutland Information Service (RIS) website

·         The original format of the site had not been particularly user friendly or accessible and as a result was not well publicized.

·         There had been a considerable amount of consultation in order to get the new format to work and the icons, colours and wording had been developed with parents and carers.

·         Unfortunately due to a technical hitch, a video showcasing young people with SEND talking about their aspirations was unable to be shown. The video had originally been made for a parents’ event to highlight these aspirations as parents often had lower expectations for their children than the children themselves.

During the members’ discussion the following points were noted:

·         There had been a significant increase in the number of children receiving assessments. This was a result of;

a)    Improved medical practices which meant children lived longer and so they were more children going through the system.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 653

(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 86/2018

Report No. 86/2018 from the Director for People was received.

The SEND Capital Programme was initiated in November 2017 and provided Rutland with an opportunity to put in place additional local education places to improve outcomes for children and young people with SEND and assist them as they mature into independence. The first phase of this programme had been focussed on understanding the SEND population and determining how to focus the RCC resources earmarked for this programme. The Board had previously agreed to approach the project in two phases.

Mr David Wilby, Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning, introduced the report the purpose of which was to provide an update on Phase 1 of the SEND Capital Programme and to seek approval to progress Phase 2.

During discussion the following points were raised:

      i.        During phase 1 of the programme a building at Uppingham Community college had been identified as a suitable site for providing a resources base. Phase 2 would look at ensuring that the building was fit for purpose.

    ii.        The principal of Uppingham Community College has been investigating similar sites elsewhere in the Country to further his understanding of what was involved in this type of mainstream, school based provision.

DECISION:

1.    Cabinet APPROVED the use of £200k of funding earmarked in RCC Cabinet in December 2016 combined with the £500k Department for Education (DfE) grant between 2018 and 2021 to increase education places to support children with SEND. The report identified the cohorts of children with SEND who were the priority for this investment.

2.    Cabinet APPROVED the progression to Phase 2 of the SEND Capital programme, and following completion of Phase 2 the delegation of authority to the Director for People to award the Grant, in consultation with the Portfolio Holder for Lifelong Learning.

Reasons for the decision.

1.    RCC had a duty to provide sufficient suitable education places to enable children and young people to maintain their education in their community and to achieve their education outcomes and progress towards independence. The SEND Capital Programme in consultation with children, families and key partners anticipated that there was a need for local resourced provision places for children and young people aged 11-16 with SEND, and a need to enhance and increase the SEND provision in particular to meet the needs of those with Communication and Interaction needs (including Autism) with Education Health and Care plans (EHCPs).

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Mrs B Caffrey and Ms. L Crookenden- Johnson left the meeting and did not return.

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