Children, Culture and Communities Scrutiny Committee	5 March 2024
Report of the Assistant Director, Education and Skills

SEND Update: Delivery of the SEND Operational Plan, 2023-2025

Summary

1. This report provides the members of scrutiny with an update on the delivery of actions outlined in the SEND Operational Plan, 2023-2025.

Recommendations

2. The Committee is asked to:

i. Consider the progress that has been made on the delivery of the SEND Operational Plan since September 2023 to be assured progress is being made, particularly in relation to actions 4.1 and 4.5

ii. Note the continuing challenges being faced by the local area SEND partnership particularly in relation to sufficiency. To ensure the members of scrutiny have an understanding of the on-going challenges to the delivery of the improvements for children and young people with SEND in the local area.

Reasons: So that members are aware of the progress made on the delivery of the plan, and of the challenges being faced by the local partnership.

Background

3. The members of scrutiny received an update on the delivery of the SEND Operational Plan at their meeting on 5^th September 2023. An action from that meeting was to bring an update on the delivery of the plan to the March 2024 meeting of the scrutiny committee, with a specific focus on providing assurance that progress on actions 4.1 and 4.5 in the operational plan had been made.

4. Annex A provides an update on the delivery of actions in the SEND Operational Plan since September 2023. At their meeting in September the members of scrutiny were concerned that two actions in the operational plan had not started to be implemented. These were actions 4.1 and 4.5 and they asked that an update on these actions be brought back to their March meeting to ensure that work on these actions was underway.

5. The members of scrutiny asked for assurance that work to update the SEND JSNA was taking place (Operational Plan Action 4.1). In November 2023, this work began supported by the public health team. The scope for the review of the JSNA was completed and a task and finish group established. This included representatives from health, education and social care. Good progress has been made since November and a draft SEND JSNA has been produced. This is being finalised and will be presented to the next meeting of the SEND Partnership Board on 18^th March 2024 and to the Health and Wellbeing Board at their next meeting.

6. Progress has also been made on Operational Plan action 4.5. Following the publication of the Preparation for Adulthood Protocol (Annex B) a Preparation for Adulthood (PfA) Strategic Board has been established and this has responsibility for the implementation of the PfA protocol and the transition plans.

7. In delivering both the Safety Valve Agreement and the SEND Strategy it is clear that in order to sustain improvement there will need to be an on-going focus on sufficiency to ensure that the local area partnership is able to ensure that the right support is in place in the right place at the right time. This must be an important focus of work across education, health and care and should inform the development of the SEND Strategy beyond 2025.

Consultation

8. Consultation with stakeholders and co-production with parents and carers remain central to the delivery of SEND improvement priorities. Engagement with stakeholders is part of the work taking place to support the refresh of the SEND JSNA and Joint Commissioning Strategy.

Options

9. This purpose of this paper is to provide an update on the SEND Operational Plan. The members of scrutiny may want to consider further scrutiny of any specific aspects of the plan and the review of the SEND Strategy as part of their annual workplan over the next 2 years.

Council Plan

10. Affordability – through delivering SEND transformation which ensures that partnership resources are used to jointly commission and achieve best value outcomes for children and young people with SEND

11. Health & Wellbeing – the delivery of the SEND strategy and operational plan promotes integrated working across, education, health and care.

12. Equalities & Human rights – through ensuring that children with SEND have access to education that meets their needs and that they are able to live their best lives in York.

13. The Environment – promoting active travel where appropriate through independent travel training.

14. Implications

· Financial: Successful delivery of the Safety Valve agreement is crucially important.

· Human Resources (HR): There are no HR implications.

· Equalities: The Equality Act needs to be considered alongside the Children and Families Act when SEND provision in the local area is being reviewed.    

· Legal: Work on SEND is governed by the Children and Families Act, 2014 and the SEND Code of Practice, 2015.

· Crime and Disorder: There are no crime and disorder implications.

· Information Technology (IT): The Synergy SEND casework system has been implemented by City of York Council and went live with the SEND in May 2023. On-going development work is taking place. The move to digital recording is a one of the requirements in the DfE SEND and AP improvement plan.  

· Property: SEND capital projects are taking place to address sufficiency.

Risk Management

15. Risks to the delivery of the SEND operational plan include:

· On-going changes in staffing and leadership across education, health and care;

· The challenging financial climate across public sector partners;

· Growing complexity and sufficiency of appropriate provision to meet need.

These risks are being mitigated through the work taking place to deliver the operational plan, continued development of the local area partnership, particularly with parents and carers and the Safety Valve agreement.

Contact Details

Author:	Chief Officer Responsible for the report:
Maxine Squire Assistant Director, Education and Skills Tel No. 01904 55 3007	Martin Kelly Corporate Director, Childrens Services and Education
	Report Approved	ü	Date	25 February 2024
Specialist Implications Officer(s) List information for all N/A
Wards Affected: [List wards or tick box to indicate all]					All	ü
For further information please contact the author of the report

Background Papers:

No background papers.

Annexes

Annex A: SEND Operational Plan.

Annex B: Preparation for Adulthood Protocol.

List of Abbreviations Used in this Report

ADHD – Attention - Deficit /hyperactivity disorder.

JSNA – Joint Strategic Needs Assessment.

SEND – Special educational needs and/or disabilities.