Agenda and minutes

There were no apologies for absence.

Cllr. Becky Haggar declared a non-pecuniary interest in agenda item number 5, the Major Review Witness Session. This was due to personal family circumstances. Cllr. Haggar left the room while the item was discussed.

It was confirmed that all items were Part I and would be discussed in public.

The Chairman advised that agenda item 6, the 'Update on the Previous Review of the Committee - Hillingdon's Implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Reforms', would be considered before item 5, the Major Review Witness Session. The other agenda items would be considered in the order published.

Officers were asked to circulate the Young People's Needs Assessment, as previously requested.

Resolved: That:

1.    The minutes of the meeting held on 7 October 2015 be agreed as a correct record.

2.    The Young People's Needs Assessment be circulated to the Committee Members.

Tom Murphy, Head of Early Intervention Services, introduced his witness submission in relation to the major review. The key points raised included the

following:

·         The Council's Early Intervention and Prevention Service had been fully established in September 2015 following transformation activity undertaken within the overall Children's Pathway Transformation Programme.

·         The Early Intervention and Prevention Services Plan had been included in the meeting papers. The Plan, which would help inform the review, contained a number of operational objectives. Its focus was on understanding impacts and outcomes for families of the work undertaken by Early Intervention and Prevention Services. Partnership working was a particularly important aspect of the work.

In response to questions from Members, officers explained and advised that:

·         It was acknowledged that it was rather early to be undertaking a review of such a new service, but the review would still be a beneficial exercise as the new service involved the bringing together and refinement of existing services.

·         Some of the targets set out in the Services Plan were specific, while others were quite broad. This was because data was not yet available to inform specific target setting in all areas. This ability would improve over time as services became more embedded. It was anticipated that it would be possible to set more precise outcomes and targets within the next year. Systems were being put in place to assist with these aspects of the Plan.

·         The Services Plan had been launched in September 2015. Some training had been provided for staff. This would be developed as the services became established.

·         It was acknowledged that further work was required in relation to the Early Intervention and Prevention Service Plan in order to more clearly define how outcomes would be delivered.

·         Some Members were concerned that there appeared to be currently a low level of awareness of the services available. Work would be required to promote the range of Early Intervention Services. This would include a dialogue with universal service providers to understand how they could help to promote Early Intervention Services.

·         It was noted that the Early Intervention and Prevention Services Plan 2015-18 had been effective from September 2015.

·         The Hillingdon Safeguarding Children Board Threshold's Guidance and Children and Young People's Social Care Assessment Protocols had been published in March 2014. In response to Member suggestions that this document should be updated, officers advised that this would passed to the Independent Chairman and Board Manager of Safeguarding Children Board for consideration.

·         It was noted that the Early Intervention and Prevention Services Performance Web had only been published in October 2015. It was suggested that this could make it rather premature for an assessment of its effectiveness to be made.

Dan Kennedy, Head of Business Performance, Policy and Standards introduced his witness submission in relation to the major review. The key points raised included the following:

·         The data presented to the Committee represented a headline analysis of the current and future needs for children in Hillingdon, drawing upon the Hillingdon Joint  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

The Committee was presented a paper to provide an update on a previous review of the Committee, the title of which was 'Hillingdon's Implementation of the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Reforms.'

The SEND Local Offer had been redesigned to improve design and layout and consultation had been undertaken with a representative group of parents / carers and with other stakeholders. The revised Local Offer had been launched shortly before the Committee meeting.

It had been determined that the consultation should be kept open on an ongoing basis to enable interested parties to provide feedback at any time. This had been facilitated through the use of a 'Have Your Say' button within the Local Offer online information. Details of the feedback received and the action taken as a result was also published on the website. Regular surveys would be undertaken in order to obtain feedback from service users. Work was also taking place to obtain feedback from young people. The Customer Engagement Team was supporting the engagement work. The next step would be to distribute promotional material to external organisations, such as general practitioners and libraries.

A number of training events had been held for relevant school staff in the previous 18 months. These had provided specific training in relation to the SEND reforms. The Inclusion Team, within the Disability Service, would be coordinating further training opportunities in order to take implementation forward. Guidance would be produced for relevant professionals, with multi-agency training to be rolled out during 2016 specifically in relation to 'outcomes'.

In response to a Member question about the strength of relationships with local schools, officers advised that some schools were more actively engaged with the reforms than others. Regular visits to schools were being used to engage with them regarding the SEND reforms and to help embed new ways of working.

The Committee commended the work undertaken to date and congratulated officers on the progress made.

Resolved: That:

1.    The report be noted.

The Committee was asked to identify and agree a topic for the undertaking of a single meeting review. This would enable officers to research suggestions further ahead of a full scoping report being developed.

Officers proposed two related topics for the Committee to consider. The first suggestion was in relation to the recruitment and retention of school staff and whether it could be approached in a more targeted and focused way. The second suggestion was the support of educational aspiration for disadvantaged children.

The Committee requested that a review should focus on the second proposal, educational aspiration for disadvantaged children. This would consider work undertaken to date and what action could be considered in the future, bearing in mind that the vast majority of schools in the Borough were independent of local authority control.

It was further suggested that the Council's relationship with academies and faith schools and also the National Funding Formula could be topics for the Committee to consider in the future.

Resolved: That:

1.    Officers develop a scoping report for agreement by the Committee in relation to a review topic of supporting educational aspiration for disadvantage children.

2.    The following topics be considered as possible future review topics:

a.    The Council's relationship with academies and faith schools.

b.    The National Funding Formula.

Resolved: That:

1.    The Work Programme be noted.

Resolved: That:

1.    The Forward Plan be noted.