Agenda and draft minutes

None.

None.

Members thanked the clerk for the minutes.

Members requested an update on transporter buses (Youth Offer item), the 0-19 service directory, and the third family hub (Children’s Centres Delivery Model and Early Years Nurseries Item).

RESOLVED: That the minutes of the previous meeting be agreed

Members considered the Learn Hillingdon self-assessment review. The Chair asked that the report be taken as read and moved to Member questions.

Members commended the report.

Members asked about the role and impact of the new advisory board, its composition, strategic objectives, and safeguarding measures for learners. Officers advised that the advisory board was in its infancy with three meetings planned per year. The board included representatives from various sectors including the Council (including the Director for Education & SEND and the Head of Lifelong Education), learners, staff, community partners and the Safer Hillingdon Partnership. There were still some vacancies to be filled such as a representative from the Citizens Advice Bureau and an employer representative. The first meeting was about introducing the service to the representatives. The second was about quality monitoring and driving standards forward. The third focused on an imminent Ofsted inspection. The board's agenda included financial status, target achievements, and quality monitoring. The board was still developing but was expected to strengthen as members become more involved. Safeguarding measures were robust, with five designated safeguarding officers and a Staying Safe Board of nine members. The board reviewed each disclosure, staff concerns, emotional health and well-being of learners, and ensured that DBSs were in place.

The service had a representative on the Prevent Partnership Board and the Adult Safeguarding Board for the borough.

Members asked about the number of women on the programmes, their roles, and strategies for long-term career progression. Officers advised that approximately 77% of learners were women, primarily caregivers from disadvantaged backgrounds. The majority of learners were working at entry level and pre-entry. This would be equated to primary school level of English and maths. The programmes aimed to build confidence and skills over time, with vocational courses designed to lead to employment. A lot of learners were motivated more by wanting to be able to help their children at school or improving their prospects. Confidence building was also an important factor. Detailed data could be provided later.

Members asked about areas of oversubscription and undersubscription, and how future accommodations would be managed. Officers advised that ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages) was the most oversubscribed area due to high demand and a shortage of experienced tutors, both of which were true across London. Officers noted that it was difficult to recall when they were last fully staffed. There was also limited building capacity. Online courses were not a viable solution for many learners due to lack of skills and confidence. Since COVID there were more organisations offering their own provision. Leisure courses such as yoga were undersubscribed, which aligned with current funding priorities. The focus remained on targeted priorities, but some courses such as languages were kept running because of the wellbeing they bring and also because of future demand.

Members asked about high lateness rates and strategies to improve this. Officers advised that attendance was very good, 94% for the current year, but there were barriers such as public transport issues and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 47.

Officers expressed gratitude to the Children’s Services directorate teams for their hard work in finding additional savings to balance the budget, noting that these were challenging times for local government due to significant funding reductions. Despite these challenges, the team, along with Cabinet Members, had worked diligently to create a budget.

It was a challenging budget, including significant savings targets of £30 million for 2025-26 and an additional £17 million for the following year. Officers noted the borough's relatively low Council Tax compared to other London boroughs, which kept more money in residents' pockets but limited the Council's available funds.

The budget included contingencies to mitigate risks. The recent grant settlement from central government had provided an additional £3.8 million, which was more than expected but still insufficient.

The Council faced enormous challenges in social care budgets, particularly for children and young people, as well as homelessness and temporary accommodation.

The Council had drawn on reserves over the years, and maintaining stability of reserves was crucial.

The government had promised a multi-year spending review, but only provided a one-year settlement this year. A three-year settlement next year would provide more certainty, but the actual funding levels remained uncertain. There were issues around balancing the schools funding block, particularly around SEND. A number of boroughs had asked for exceptional funding, but Hillingdon had not done so.

Revenue monitoring

There was a reported overspend of £8.9 million for 2024-25, with services within the remit of this Committee forecasting an overspend of £3 million, largely due to increased expenditure for looked after children. Early years centres also faced pressure, offset by underspends in staffing for the Children in Need service. The service area aimed to deliver £1.7 million in savings for 2024-25, with £1.2 million already banked or contracted for delivery, and £0.5 million recorded as either Amber 2 or Red. These savings were related to improving the foster offer and the Stronger Families Programme, which faced challenges this year.

Medium Term Financial Strategy

The consultation budget set out a savings requirement of £39 million for 2025-26, with £32.6 million identified so far, leaving a residual gap of £6.4 million. Over five years, the savings requirement was £62 million, with £65 million identified, resulting in a £3 million surplus by the end of the five-year period. However, reserves will need to be drawn down initially and then rebuilt in later years. Most of the savings requirement was driven by corporate items, including a £37.3 million increase in expenditure predominantly related to rebasing historic budget shortfalls and undelivered savings. An additional £16.9 million was attributed to demographics and inflation.

Children's Social Care and Savings

The increase in savings and spending requirements was driven by children's social care placements, with demographic growth accounting for a £0.4 million increase and inflation for social care placements at £0.5 million. A further £1.9 million was related to inflation for non-placements, mostly due to a pay award for 2025-26, estimated to be 3%.

Of the £5.2 million in savings  ...  view the full minutes text for item 48.

Officers provided an overview of the SEND & AP Strategy update. The strategy was approved in December 2023 and this update report covered the achievements over the past year. Officers noted the Ofsted inspection of SEND provision in April 2024, which led to the creation of an improvement plan. The strategy aligned with the areas identified in the Ofsted inspection, focusing on strengths and weaknesses. Officers emphasised the successful embedding of the strategy across partners, schools, and services within the Council, and expressed pride in the progress made and acknowledged the ongoing work needed.

Officers highlighted the rebranding to "SEND Local Area Partnership" and the emphasis on a local area partnership involving education, health, voluntary sector, young people and families. There had been a review and strengthening of the governance structure. There were ambition groups that reported to strategic boards, with multi-agency representation.

Officers noted the increase in SEND support data, indicating better identification of needs. In Autumn 2023, SEND Support was 11.8%. In Autumn 2024, the figure was 12.1%. Officers discussed the reshaping of the SEND Advisory Service to provide holistic support to teaching staff and the creation of new roles such as educational psychologists and improvement advisors.

Officers noted the significant work on annual reviews, focusing on improving quality and timeliness. Officers also noted the development of various pathways for early identification, including the multi-agency early years panel and the newly developed assessment centre at Ruislip Gardens for children with complex needs. This panel was working well. There had been an improvement in the timeliness of Education, Health and Care assessments, with compliance with the 20-week statutory deadline improving from 54% to 85%, and then achieving 100% in the last month.

The team was stable, and the core EHCP team was now fully permanent. This was important as it provided consistency.

Officers discussed the development of SEND reviews for schools within the SEND Advisory team and the higher uptake this year.

To further support schools, Ordinarily Available Provision (OAP) had been reviewed and updated in collaboration with schools. This was guidance to support children within the mainstream settings and would be published at the end of this month.

There were some challenges with some schools appearing to be magnets for SEND and efforts were underway to establish more consistent approaches across settings. There was a focus on a training offer for the workforce, including education, health, and social care partners around SEND.

Officers noted the introduction of exceptional funding to support schools with a higher percentage of children with SEND. Through the Phase Transfer process, officers and schools had collaborated in supporting students with EHCPs in Year 7.

There had been some success in involving young people through the SEND Youth Forum, which had co-produced a charter, logo, and local offer website page. Young people would be part of the governance and strategic boards, ensuring their voices were heard in the implementation of the strategy.

Members thanked officers for their work and asked about the recruitment of young people  ...  view the full minutes text for item 49.

Officers presented the draft SEND Sufficiency Strategy, developed over several months with extensive analysis. Officers highlighted the challenges around data in recent years and the improvements made in monitoring. The goal was ensuring sufficient high-quality specialist provision in both mainstream and special settings. The strategy was underpinned by the local area SEND provision and aimed to create a continuum of support for every need at the right time and place.

Officers provided updates on the local context, noting a 37% increase in the number of EHCPs over the last four years, with a recent slowdown in year-on-year growth to 4.6%. Officers noted that the primary need was autism, which had doubled in recent years, along with an increase in social, emotional and mental health needs. There was a higher percentage of children with an EHCP attending special schools (34.4%) compared to the national average (32.1%), but there was a focus on developing specialist provision within mainstream settings.

Officers discussed ongoing development projects, including an application for a free school for 280 pupils and building work related to expansions and satellite provisions. Officers emphasised the importance of being responsive to the needs of the cohort and working with multi-academic trusts and architects to meet demand. There was a focus on promoting early intervention pathways and ensuring excellent education in local schools.

Members asked about the consultation process and the low number of responses received. Officers explained that the strategy was led by ambition group #3, which included representatives from special schools, SRPs, and mainstream settings. Officers noted that the low response rate was not surprising as the schools were already aware of the strategy and its goals through regular collaboration and sharing of census data.

Members asked about the long-term capacity needs and the number of SRPs and special schools required. Officers explained that the strategy was based on eight-year projections, considering the growth of children with SEND and the overall population. Officers noted the importance of early identification through the early years tracking panel and the need to develop secondary SRP provision to avoid bottlenecks. Continuous review and analysis of cohorts to anticipate needs and ensure sufficient places was important. Officers were confident in the current sufficiency of places. Ensuring feedback from young people was an important part of this.

Members suggested including forecast data on capacity and population projections in future updates of the strategy. Officers confirmed that projections were included in the SEND and AP Strategy and would continue to be reviewed and updated.

Members raised concerns about the lack of suitable SEND placements, resulting in some children remaining in unsuitable mainstream schools, and asked about the timetable to address this. Officers acknowledged the delays with developers and interim solutions while awaiting special school readiness which had led to some accepting only part of a cohort. Officers emphasised the importance of working closely with liaison meetings within the EHCP team and regular meetings with SENCOs to address any unsuitable placements. There was a commitment to supporting placements based  ...  view the full minutes text for item 50.

Officers advised that following the recent update of the Cabinet portfolios and directorates, there had been an amendment to the Select Committee’s Terms of Reference.

Members asked if the updated Terms of Reference should explicitly state school place planning, as this was a statutory requirement. The Chair noted that this would come under Education & SEND, but officers would also check this.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted its updated remit

Members considered the Forward Plan.

RESOLVED: That the Committee noted the Forward Plan

The Chair confirmed that the March meeting was due to take place on 20 March, not 11 March.

Members asked for an update on the major review. The Chair advised that now the witness sessions had been completed, officers would be consulted on draft recommendation ideas. Members asked and officers confirmed that Members were welcome to provide their own recommendation ideas ahead of any meeting with officers.

The Chair also advised that Dylan McTaggart had attended to observe the meeting with a view to potentially attending as a witness to a future session on higher education.

RESOLVED: That the Children, Families and Education Select Committee considered the report and agreed any amendments