Council and councillors

(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 112/2017

(KEY DECISION)

Report No. 112/2017 from the Director for People was received.

The Portfolio Holder, Mr Wilby, introduced the report.  A brief summary was provided by Mr Quinn, Service Manager – Early Intervention and Inclusion, regarding the purpose of the report which was to update Members on the current contractual arrangements for the provision of Educational Psychology services in Rutland, and to seek approval from Cabinet to provide a direct award to Partners in Psychology for the delivery of educational psychology services until 31^st August 2018.

During discussion the following points were raised:

i)     There was currently a back log in non-statutory assessments from schools due to increase in referrals from schools and the need to prioritise statutory Education and Health and Care assessments.  The intention was to increase the provision of the Educational Psychology Service from 3 to 5 days for a short period in order to review the back log and clear those cases that still required assessments;

ii)    Mr Hemsley was concerned that the focus should be on giving children what they need and providing the right kind of support;

iii)   The direct award of this service for a further year would allow the time required to ensure that sufficient consultation could take place in order to ensure that any new service tendered was fit for purpose and meets the needs identified by parents educational establishments and delivers flexible and adaptable support;

iv)   Mr Wilby identified that children receiving support and their families should be asked to provide feedback to ensure they are receiving the right sort of support and are in the right educational setting for them;

v)    There had been improvement in the provision of this service since moving from an employed educational psychologist to using Partners in Psychology as it provided access to a variety of practitioners.  Educational psychologist were in short supply which limited the ability to employ to a specific post;

vi)   Mr Walters highlighted that there was some dissatisfaction from parents with children in main stream schools who felt that the schools had not reacted in a timely/appropriate manner.  There was also some confusion regarding referrals to Children and Adolescent Mental Health Services preventing referrals to Educational Psychology services;

vii) Schools were able to buy in additional support and were not bound by provision from the Local Authority alone;

viii)                Mrs Curtis highlighted that there was also the opportunity to improve support in schools by focusing on classroom practice and training and developing teachers to improve their skills so that they can better support children in the classroom.  Supporting teachers to become specialists in certain areas (e.g. support for dyslexia) so that they can visit other schools to share knowledge and best practice; and

ix)   Head teachers had been invited to join a panel which would look at the practice, delivery and provision of the Educational Psychology service to ensure that delivery was as effective and efficient as possible for children and families.  The work done by this panel would be reported back to Schools Forum and Head Teacher Partnership meetings.

DECISION

1.    Cabinet APPROVED the direct award for the delivery of educational psychology services to Partners in Psychology until 31^st August 2018.

Reasons for Decision

1.    The Local Authority required educational psychology services to support its statutory duties.  The contract with the existing provider had expired and a contract was required whilst a review was undertaken.

2.    Approval of the direct award would allow for a review of the service and ensured effective provision was available to meet the Local Authority’s statutory duty.