The Director of Children’s Services presents a report (Document “O”) which provides an update on the progress towards the WSOA that followed the March 2002 SEND Area Inspection.

Recommended -

That the report be noted.

(Niall Devlin - (01274) 431356)

The Director of Children’s Services presented a report (Document “O”) which provided an update on the progress towards the Written Statement Of Action (WSOA) that followed the March 2002, SEND Area Inspection.

Bradford Council was required to deliver a number of actions to transform special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services across the local area. On the 21^st October 2022, Ofsted agreed that the proposed Written Statement of Action was sufficient.

Following Local Area SEND Inspection, the report provided a high-level overview of progress within each of the five areas for improvement as follows:

• Poor communication between stakeholders across education, health and care.
• The variable quality of EHC plans, including plans which did not fully describe the provision that children and young people with SEND need.

·       The inconsistent delivery of the 0 to 19 health visiting, school nursing and specialist nursing service.

·       Children and young people waited too long for assessments, treatment and diagnosis. There was insufficient support for children and young people with SEND who were waiting for provision, services, diagnosis or equipment.

·       Education, Health and Care Services did not work together well. The arrangements for joint commissioning were underdeveloped.

In the ensuing discussions, the following points were highlighted:

• In response to a Member’s question, the Committee was informed that the improvements in the areas identified would all be actioned within 24 months.
• Collaboration between agencies had not worked well previously and required strengthening.  
• The Committee recognised the free services that SENDIASS provided was vital to support children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and families.
• Members expressed their frustration that children with SEN had been waiting an unacceptable amount of time for their EHC plans to be issued, with some families waiting for almost three years.  Officers explained how the applications received were prioritised. It was further acknowledged a high number of EHCP waiting to be issued and explained this was sometimes due to applications received that had not received any input from partner agencies.  This had been recognised and improvements were required to support parents and partners. 
• The criteria for orthoptic vision screening available for children was not clear and consistent approach was required around orthoptic vision screening for children.
• In response to the comments regarding the issues that not all children were being offered health checks at schools. The Committee was informed that all children (0-19) would be offered a health check. School nurses were well-equipped and ensured they had the right skills in managing the relationships between child, family and school setting. Furthermore, regular health and development reviews (health visitor checks) were offered for 0 to 2 years.

The Chair requested that the full Written Statement of Action be shared with the Committee.

Resolved –

That the Children’s Services Overview and Scrutiny requests that a further progress report be presented in 12 months, which also includes the detailed Action Plan, RAG rating and the full Written Statement of Action.

ACTION: Strategic Director for Children’s Services

                                                                        (Niall Devlin – 01274 431356)