Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Improvement and Integration
Programme Board
2.00 – 4.00pm Tuesday 10th July 2012, the Pink Meeting Room, County Hall
Notes of the Meeting
Present:
89
Principal Educational Psychologist
97
PACT Parents Representative
87
Integrated Processes Project Manager
90
Integrated Services Manager
71
Senior Advisor, Inclusion
93
Workforce Development Advisor
34
Senior Commissioning Manager: Children (NYY PCT)
5
Head of SEND Support and Outreach
88
Head of Assessment and Commissioning (Care)
95
Strategic Development & Commissioning Manager
94
Head of Effective Practice & Quality Assurance
64
Senior Parent Partnership Coordinator
103
14-19 Strategy and Commissioning Manager
109
Integrated Children’s System Manager
107
Accountant
101
Performance and Change Manager, Health and Adult
Services
Apologies:
73
Assistant Director, Access and Inclusion
85
PACT Parents Representative
86
Barnardo’s (for the Flying High Group)
98
Head of Self-Directed Support and Transformation (HAS)
92
Head of HR
96
Head of 14-19 Strategy and Commissioning
72
Head of Assessment and Commissioning (Education)
91
Principal Accountant
Agenda Item
Discussion/ Actions
1. Minutes of
the meeting
The minutes were agreed as an accurate record.
held on
17/04/2012
Regarding the access to targeted services workstrand, 88 advised
and matters
that ‘Sleep Scotland’ training has recently commenced for six
arising
practitioners who work with disabled children and their families. The
training model will ensure there is good coverage across the county
of professionals who have achieved ‘sleep practitioner’ accreditation
and will enable enhanced support to be provided to families who
experience severe sleep problems.
Concerning Short Breaks, the Board was informed that the Short
Breaks Statement was agreed by Executive Members on 24/04/12.
Short Break panels are now in place and the statement will be kept
under regular review to ensure the process works effectively.
However, early feedback suggests that the new Short Break
arrangements are working well.
94 advised the Board that draft Residential Review report is
scheduled to be taken to the SEND project team on 23/07/12.
2. Early
Support Action
90 provided an overview of the action plan which has been
Plan
developed to address a range of issues and relatively low uptake of
Early Support within North Yorkshire. One action agreed is to
consider trialling the Designated Key Worker role as part of
Pathfinder Pilot in the Hambleton/Richmondshire area. Additionally,
systematic reporting and analysis arrangements have been put in
place to ensure there is effective monitoring and evaluation of the
Early Support programme.
90 to keep the Board updated on progress at appropriate
90
intervals
3. Local
Pathfinder
89 provided an overview of the report being taken to the North
Yorkshire Children’s Trust Board on 11/07/12 to update partners on
the SEND Pathfinder work to:
• develop a process to generate a single Education, Health
and Care Plan for all children, young people and young
adults with SEND, from birth to 25 years; and
• look at how such a plan might be used to allocate a personal
budget to the family or young adult.
The North Yorkshire Pathfinder will work with two specific age
groups (under-fives in the Hambleton/Richmondshire area and
special school leavers in Scarborough) to test the above aspects.
The report outlines the progress which has been made by the
Pathfinder to date. The Board was advised that the North Yorkshire
Pathfinder is now in a position to begin recruiting families and their
children in order to produce a single Education, Health and Care
Plan.
Additionally, work has started on the development of the ‘Local
Offer’, which will describe what services are available to children
and young people with SEND from all statutory agencies and the
voluntary and community sector. The report for the North Yorkshire
Children’s Trust also provides a summary of the local and national
issues, which are being addressed by the Pathfinder work.
89 advised that the North Yorkshire Children’s Trust Board are also
being asked to consider whether there is scope to extend the Early
Support approach up to the age of 25.
89 to circulate the report being presented to the North
89
Yorkshire Children’s Trust Board on 11/07/12
89 to keep the Board updated on progress at appropriate
89
intervals
4. Transitions
and Post-16
Regarding Independent Specialist Provider (ISP) and Personalised
Provision
Learning (PL) placements, 103 informed the Board that the vast
majority of placement panels have been held and all funding
decisions for 2012/13 have been communicated to parents and
carers. This communication of funding decisions has been made
significantly earlier when compared to the previous year.
A report has recently been presented to Executive Members, which
provides an evaluation of the PL Pathway programme so far. The
Board was advised that there has been a considerable increase in
the uptake of the PL programme, which will deliver substantial
savings going forward. Additionally, commitment has been obtained
to further extend the use of PL Hubs within North Yorkshire.
A further paper has also been taken to Executive Members
recommending a review of SEND provision for young people aged
16-25 in the Hambleton and Richmondshire area. This
recommendation was endorsed by Executive Members and will
involve the mapping and review of existing provision within the area.
103 to circulate copies of the reports which went to Executive
Members.
103
103 provided an update regarding the transfer of some staff,
currently employed by iGEN, into the Local Authority in order to
undertake and manage the Section 139a process ‘in-house’. These
arrangements will be in place for September 2012. Communication
with schools is ongoing to ensure it is clear who will provide the
‘Information, Advice and Guidance’ service within individual schools.
32 advised the Board that it has recently been agreed to extend the
‘Training and Education for Short Breaks Scheme’ (TESS) to cover
disabled children and young people up to the age of 25, who are
living within the North Yorkshire and York area –
All to note and
advise staff
All
5. Autism
Strategy
5 informed the Board that the consultation regarding the strategy for
Consultation
meeting the needs of children and young people (0 – 25) with autism
in North Yorkshire is progressing well and closes on 27/07/12. From
the consultation process, a number of key themes have been
identified, which will be covered within the final version of the
strategy.
During the July – September 2012 period, consultation responses
will be collated, analysed and used to inform the development of the
final strategy for Autism. The final strategy will be presented to
Executive Members in September/October 2012.
6. Strategy for
Speech,
5 advised the Board that a draft strategy for SLCN is in
Language and
development. Consultation on the draft strategy is scheduled to
Communication commence in autumn 2012. In preparation for this, there has been
Needs (SLCN)
a concerted effort to embed the principle across all services that
communication development is ‘everyone’s business’, ensuring
there is good engagement with the strategy going forward.
The development, consultation and delivery of a strategy for Specific
Learning Difficulties (SpLD) is also planned as part of the ‘strategies
for meeting education need’ workstrand. 110 has recently been
appointed as the lead for SpLD and will oversee this work.
7. Access to
95 provided an overview of the inclusivity self-evaluations
Universal
undertaken in the following CYPS universal services:
Services –
• Children's Centres;
Inclusivity
• the Youth Support Service;
Review
• the Outdoor Learning Service; and
• Schools.
The Board was advised that as general feedback, the reviews have
been a very useful exercise and action plans have been created to
address the issues identified through the reviews. It was confirmed
that user/parental feedback is built into the inclusivity self-
evaluations undertaken within CYPS.
The next stage of the review will be to extend the exercise to include
universal services which sit outside of CYPS. It was confirmed that
this will also include a review of leisure services. 88 advised that the
Flying High Group is keen to ensure they are involved in the
inclusivity review exercise for leisure services –
95 to action.
95
95 to keep the Board updated on progress at appropriate
95
intervals
8. Evaluation
71 informed the Board that an evaluation of EMS for Autism,
of Enhanced
Communication & Interaction and SpLD has been undertaken. Data
Mainstream
has been collected using a range of qualitative and quantitative
Schools (EMS)
methods to assess the impact of the support and outreach work
provided by EMSs.
71 provided an overview of the July 2012 evaluation of EMS report.
General feedback from schools and parents has been
overwhelmingly positive regarding the impact which has been made
by EMSs and 71 advised that there is a need to ensure this impact
can be sustained.
71 to keep the Board updated on progress at appropriate
71
intervals
9. ‘Narrowing
the Gap’
71 advised the Board that narrowing attainment gaps for vulnerable
groups is a key area for improvement for North Yorkshire. At each
key point when attainment is measured, pupils from vulnerable
groups do significantly less well than their peers as a whole.
71 tabled a statement of intent paper for narrowing the attainment
gaps for pupils identified with SEND, which has been agreed by the
CYPS Quality and Improvement Service. The statement of intent
also includes an agreed action plan which has been developed in
order to narrow the gap and deliver improved outcomes of children
and young people with SEND.
It was confirmed that the statement has a wider scope than just
SEND and covers a range of vulnerable groups. 95 commented that
it would be helpful to also include information relating to attainment
gaps at early years stages within the statement of intent
– 71 to
investigate whether this is possible.
71
87 to circulate electronically the ‘narrowing the gap – statement 87
of intent’ document.
10. Health
Care for
34 provided an overview of the paper produced to summarise the
Disabled
Care Quality Commission’s review of the support available for
Children and
families with children that have a disability. It was noted that data
Young People
from 2009 and 2010 was used within the review and therefore the
report makes an assessment of where services were at that time.
In general terms, North Yorkshire and York compared quite well with
the overall findings of the review. 34 provided a summary of some
of the key local themes identified from the report, which will need to
be addressed by Health commissioners going forward.
The report was noted by the Board.
11. NYPACT
Conference –
The Board was informed that the NYPACT conference held on
Oral Feedback
02/05/12 had been a very successful event. Approximately 70
people attended the conference, and feedback from attendees
indicates that it was very informative. It was confirmed that NYPACT
continue to look for opportunities to grow and to increase parental
engagement.
The launch of the new NYPACT had also been very successful and
it was recognised that it is a significant improvement over what was
in place previously.
97 advised that it would be helpful to use the NYPACT parent forum
to discuss upcoming consultations. This will help ensure that the
right arrangements are in place and the consultation is run in an
appropriate way to enable parents of children and young people with
SEND to engage with the process.
12. Any Other
Business
Workforce Development
As part of the work to develop a workforce strategy to support the
delivery of the SEND Programme, a ‘Training Needs Analysis’ (TNA)
has been conducted within the Youth Support Service (YSS). The
TNA exercise is being used to assess the training requirements of
universal practitioner staff. It will not be necessary to repeat this
exercise with other staff groups.
93 advised the Board that 25 responses have been received from
the YSS, and respondents covered a cross-section of staff working
from between 1.5 hours per week, and 37 hours per week. The
TNA indicates the knowledge base amongst staff varies significantly
and the majority of staff would benefit from more information relating
to SEND. A piece of work is required to develop a set of resources
to equip universal staff with the appropriate level of understanding to
work with children and young people with SEND.
93 to keep the Board updated on progress at appropriate
93
intervals regarding the development of a workforce strategy to
support the delivery of the SEND Change Programme.
13. Dates and
Times of
•
9 October 2012 (10:00–12:00, the Pink Meeting Room,
Future
County Hall) –
Please note the change of time
Meetings
•
8 January 2013 (10:00-12:00, the CYPS Conference Room,
County Hall)
•
9 April 2013 (10:00-12:00, the CYPS Conference Room,
County Hall)
•
9 July 2013 (10:00-12:00, the CYPS Conference Room,
County Hall)
•
8 October 2013 (10:00-12:00, the CYPS Conference Room,
County Hall)