Agenda, decisions and minutes

Apologies were received from Councillors Cooper, Chowdhury and Lunn.

Members are asked to declare any interest and the nature of that interest which they may have in any of the items under consideration at this meeting.

There were none.

To receive notification of requests from members of the public to address the meeting on an item on the public part of the agenda.

A request to address the meeting in respect of Item 6 (Support for children and young people with SEND) had been received from Ms Lauren Bunting.

To confirm the Minutes of the meeting of the Committee held on 25 October 2022.

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed the minutes of the meeting on 25 October 2022 as an accurate record.

RESOLVED: that the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee agreed the minutes of the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee meeting on 25 October 2022.

To receive any communications from the Chair.

The Chair noted that the scheduled meeting of the Committee in September 2022 had been cancelled due to the mourning period for the late Queen and this additional meeting had been convened to consider the specific topic of SEND provision.

To consider an overview of the provision and development of services supporting children and young people with SEND in West Northamptonshire.

RESOLVED: That the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee

a)    Noted the updates in the report.

b)    Agreed to set up a Task and Finish Panel to scrutinise SEND provision.

c)    Noted that Councillors Barrett, Herring and Roberts were prepared to sit on the Task and Finish Panel and that information would be circulated to other non-executive councillors following the meeting to identify the other members to be involved.

d)    Agreed that Task and Finish Panel members would hold a scoping meeting to draw up the key lines of enquiry for the scrutiny review for approval by the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee.  

The Chair invited Ms Lauren Bunting to address the Committee.  Ms Bunting outlined the long-running problems she had experienced in trying to secure appropriate education for her daughter who had SEND.  This had put her into contact with other parents, who felt that their children were being failed by West Northamptonshire Council (WNC).  WNC had acknowledged this but just admitting failure was not a response to their situation.  She questioned whether changes to SEND provision now being made or proposed by WNC would change anything without additional funding. She supported further scrutiny into SEND provision.

In response to questions from Committee members Ms Bunting stated that the outcome she was seeking was for her daughter to have the education package she needed.  However, WNC seemed to see her as a nuisance and could not provide an appropriate option.  Children with SEND were not being supported to fulfil their potential and to live rewarding lives.

Committee members emphasised the importance of local educational provision to support children with different needs and of good communication between WNC and parents as standard. 

The Assistant Director Education advised that he had now been in-post for three months and during this time he had met with Ms Bunting and the parents action group and had corresponded with them extensively.  However, he apologised to Ms Bunting for the situation she had experienced and expressed a desire to make improvements by working together.  He acknowledged that communications had not been good enough in the past, but changes were now being made.

The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education further advised that the need to improve SEND provision had been a key focus of the recruitment process for the Assistant Director Education.    

The Assistant Director Education presented the report and explained the national context concerning the provision of support for children and young people with SEND.  The Children and Families Act 2014 had set out statutory responsibilities for councils and partners to implement reforms in provision.  The SEND Code of Practice then outlined supporting legal requirements, which to date no council had implemented in full.  Since 2014 there had been a significant increase in children with additional needs as well as an increase in the complexity of those needs.  Nationally there was a £2bn gap in the resources required to implement statutory requirements and fewer than 10% of councils were currently meeting the demand for SEND services within their allocated High Needs Funding.  Lockdown had had a disproportionate effect on children and young people with additional needs.

The Department for Education (DfE) had launched consultation on a SEND green paper in March 2022, which was effectively three years late.  A new national SEND delivery plan was due to be published in late 2022, although early 2023 was now more likely.  WNC would then need to produce a local plan which tailored the national requirements to the local context.  Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission were also due to implement a new local inspection framework in early 2023.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 81.