Agenda item
Special Educational Needs (SEN) progress since 2011
Since October 2011 improvements to the Council’s Special Educational Needs services have been made as part of a One Council project. This report provides an update on the progress the project has made in tackling the issues identified at the beginning of the project in 2011 and it provides information on activities and actions that have been put in place to reduce the SEN budget overspend and to improve service performance.
Minutes:
Sara Williams (Acting Director of Children and Families) presented a report to the committee setting out the improvement made since 2011 to the council’s Special Educational Needs (SEN) Service. This progress had been achieved via a One Council project which was scheduled for completion by the end of August 2013. Members were reminded that as part of this project, the council had formulated a new Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) strategy which had been considered by the committee previously.
Sara Williams explained that the One Council Project had supported the service to achieve a number of significant improvements. The reliance on statements of SEN for meeting need had been reduced. This enabled resources to be targeted at those with the greatest need and brought Brent more into line with practice in statistical and neighbouring authorities in West London. SEN provision within the borough had been increased to enable parents of children with SEN to access good and outstanding SEN provision closer to their homes. Importantly, this had prevented further increase in reliance on expensive independent and non maintained schools located outside of Brent. The financial performance of the service had also demonstrably improved with the recent years’ trend of increasing Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG) expenditure having been halted and the first years savings target as set out in the DSG recovery plan having been exceeded.
It was emphasised by Sara Williams that there remained significant challenges, however. The capacity of SEN provision in Brent would need to expand further to meet the projected demand by 2020 and it was acknowledged that Brent’s population, and therefore demand on services, was expected to increase over the next five years. One of the greatest challenges facing the service, however, was the new SEN regime that was due to be implemented in September 2014. This would require all local authorities to undertake a radical re-think and transformation of their SEN processes and required closer working with Health and Social Care. It was essential that the challenges facing the service were systematically planned for and managed going forward and it was considered that the council was in a good position to achieve these reforms, having developed the new Education, Health and Care department.
During the committee’s discussion, clarification was sought regarding the obligation of the council to meet parental preference in allocating SEN school places. It was further queried how the additional capacity required in SEN provision would be achieved by 2020. Reference was made to the revised home to school transport policy which had been agreed by the Executive in April 2013. It was noted that the new policy was reported to place a focus on independent travel and it was queried how it would be determined which children could undertake independent travel.
In response to the queries raised, Sara Williams advised the committee that when a statement of SEN was produced, the school thought appropriate for that child would be named and this decision was ultimately made by the Local Authority. Past practice had been more flexible in meeting parent’s preferences but now there was an enhanced focus on the local authority taking a clear and transparent stance. Where parents were unsatisfied with the choice made they could pursue the matter via a SEN tribunal. The council would continue to focus on expanding SEN provision within Brent. It was anticipated that use would be made of additionally resourced provision in Brent’s secondary schools which was currently under-utilised. The council was also intending to relocate and expand Manor School. With regard to the transport policy, this had been based on the recognition that if children were able to travel independently, it would be in their interest to do so. However, the policy also recognised that it may be that some children would need support before they could become independent travellers. A careful assessment process would be undertaken to determine this.
Jenny Cooper (Observer) commented that the new Village school building was brilliant. She further highlighted that it was important to recognise that education also represented an opportunity to enrich pupil’s lives and should not only be applauded for educational outcomes.
RESOLVED:
That the report be noted.
Supporting documents: