Agenda item

Medway Council and Medway CCG have consulted on a Joint Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) five year Strategy. This Strategy, which is attached at Appendix 1 to the report, sets out the Local Area’s vision, guiding principles and the key areas of development that will be the focus for Medway’s children and young people with SEND over the coming five years.

The Strategy was considered by the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee on 3 October 2019, and the comments are set out at section 7 of the report. Following consideration by the Health and Wellbeing Board, the Strategy will be presented to the Cabinet on 19 November 2019 for consideration and final approval.

Discussion:

The Health and Wellbeing Board considered a report concerning the Joint Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) Strategy, which had been co-produced with local area partners, parents, carers and young people in response to feedback from the Medway Local Area SEND Inspection in 2017.

There were seven joint strategic priorities, set out at paragraph 2.4 of the report and there were also a series of principles for all services across partners and agencies to deliver these priorities; these were set out at paragraph 2.5 of the report.

The following issues were discussed:

·         Value for money – a Board Member commented that the need to ensure value for money was not included within the strategic priorities. This was of particular concern owing to the potential risks associated with joint working. The Head of Integrated 0-25 Disability Services considered that joint working would reduce duplication and ensure that intervention was timelier and therefore would generate greater value for money.

·         Inclusion – a Board Member recognised that there were significant challenges associated with SEN inclusion within mainstream schools in Medway. It was explained that the number of children with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) educated in mainstream schools within Medway was below the national average. In addition, there was a comparatively high rate of exclusions of pupils with SEN.

To address these challenges, the School Improvement and Challenge Team had undertaken a targeted programme with head teachers and SEN coordinators at schools with the highest rates of exclusions to upskill them and increase their confidence to meet the needs of pupils with an EHCP or pupils in need of SEN support. This had significantly reduced exclusion rates. A second phase of this programme had recently commenced. This programme included 25 schools and involved reviewing best practice; developing champions of inclusion within schools; and bringing together a network to support and challenge.

·         Prioritisation – in response to a question about how actions were prioritised in light of finite resources, the Head of Integrated 0-25 Disability Services explained that there were short, medium and long term actions within the action plan.

In the short term, the partnership would regularly review high cost placements to ensure that they met the needs of children and were value for money. Over the longer term, there was an aspiration to develop an ‘ordinarily available’ document which would set out what support schools should provide. This would be developed with schools and health partners.

It was considered that this document would drive standardisation and upskilling of the workforce which in turn would better support pupils to remain in mainstream schools and reduce the need for special schools and placing children out of area and within high cost placements.

The Director of People – Children and Adults Services added that the Council also jointly commissioned specialist services from NELFT and Medway Community Healthcare (MCH). The quality of the services provided by these organisations were closely monitored in partnership with NHS Medway Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG).

Decision:

The Health and Wellbeing Board:

a)    noted the comments of the Children and Young People Overview and Scrutiny Committee set out at section 7 of the report;

b)    recognised the importance of prioritising value for money, particularly as work would be undertaken with partners;

c)    recognised the importance of support needed by and for young people; and

d)    commented as set out within the minute on the draft Strategy set out at Appendix 1 to the report, and recommend it to Cabinet for approval.