Agenda item

Ben Dunne Director of Education and Skills presented a report which had been produced following Bury’s local area SEND services Inspection by the Care Quality Commission and Ofsted. The inspection team identified widespread, systemic failings in services and highlighted the challenge that the service need to do more to improve the outcomes of children and young people with special educational needs.

The inspection identified 6 priority actions which Bury Council and NHS Greater Manchester ICB are jointly responsible for, along with 3 areas for improvement. As a result of the inspection outcome, the local authority has been issued with an Improvement Notice and will be subject to monitoring visits followed by a re-inspection in approximately 18 months.

As a result of the inspection outcome, the Bury local area has produced a Priority Action Plan, which is locally being referred to as the Priority Impact Plan (PIP).

The PIP has been co-produced with stakeholders, including parents and carers and is the strategic plan for SEND, setting out what needs to be delivered in the next 18-24 months with key milestones and key performance indicators. The plan is published on the Bury SEND Local Offer.

Support for the delivery of the Priority Impact Plan has been supported through additional investment by the council and the ICB – this will support the programme management and governance but also address some of the critical deficits identified in the report. The level of investment secured is approximately £450,000 a year.

Bury Council has also applied for Intervention Support Fund (ISF), which is a targeted grant provided by the Department for Education (DfE) to support local authorities in England that are under formal intervention to bolster resources and further support the implementation of the Priority Impact Plan (PIP). A response to the grant application is currently awaited and further information, should this be granted at the next Scrutiny Committee.

The report set out the following information:

• Governance Arrangements
• Monitoring Arrangements
• SEND Service Launch, embedding ‘Deep Dive’ activities

The conclusion of the report was that the Local Area SEND Partnership is continuing in its commitment to improving services for children and young people with SEND and their families.

The SIAB has received assurance that we are progressing, in accordance with the commitments set out in the Local Area SEND Priority Impact Plan. There is still a considerable amount of work to be done, and it is essential that we maintain a consistent pace and ensure that we capture the impact for our children, young people and their families and that this is sustained throughout

Those present were given the opportunity to ask questions and make comments and the following points were raised:

• Councillor Lancaster referred to changes to ADHD/Autism assessments due to start in January that she had been made aware of for through Bury Together in relation to CAHMS assessments for children assessed to have moderate or severe mental health conditions. Concerns had been raised that some children may not meet the assessment criteria and will not get as assessment for ADHD/autism via the NHS.

Jeanette Richards explained that Bury Together are key strategic partners.  The issue has been discussed at the SIAB where it was agreed that more detailed information did need to be presented back to the community. It was recognised that changes bring additional uncertainty and Children’s Services will be looking to provide assurance.

• Councillor Haroon referred to feedback from parents in relation to the Local Offer and asked how it had been received.

Jeanette reported that the level of feedback had improved.

Jeanette also explained that funding for Beebot AI technology had been secured to help create a more intuitive local offer that would be more widely available to those with additional needs. The council would be moving to consulting with families that would use it which would support the procurement, designing and building a system.

Ben Dunne explained that the need was to move from a system that was adversarial to one that that was supportive in nature and also looking at how the family hubs are used to engage directly with families.

It was also explained that access and communication with families in formats other than digital was a priority and making sure that all information was available across many formats.

• Councillor Boles asked when the improvements would start to be

seen.

Jeanette stated that improvements would hopefully start to be seen before the end of the year.

• Councillor Ryder referred to PIP5 relating to transitions and primary schools inputting this information and the fact that the 6into7 system was funded up to September 2026. She asked what would happen after that date.

Ben explained that the system had been well received and would be continued. Ben Explained that funding would be requested from de delegation through the schools’ forum.

• Councillor Hayes referred to the intervention support fund and the outcome currently being awaited. He asked when the decision would come through how significant was it?

It was explained the council had made an application to the Department for Education for additional improvement monies through the intervention support fund.  It had been a rigorous process. The Council had received the news in September that they had successfully secured £160,000  to support with improvement. The next steps would need to be planned. The funding will be used to improve communication with parents and carers, to pilot a multi-agency triage team and also improve data reporting. It was explained that the DfE would be looking for the demonstrative impact of the funding.

Jeanette also reported that a separate grant of £70,000 had been received  and would be used to support on going co-production  and consultation with the changemaker group of young people who have lived experience of SEND. The group are coming forward with innovative ideas around how to improve SEND services.

Ben reported that the Education and Inclusion Strategy had been launched the previous week and was very well attended by headteachers and change of the changemakers who spoke to the headteachers directly and asked how they would support a younger version of him over the next ten years.

• Councillor Boles asked if there was confidence that the way the Local Offer  was defined was the same across all departments and schools?

It was explained that there was still work to be done but the strategies around sharing information in all formats, the development of a video that will be widely circulated and the networks that are being developed with schools and senior leaders would help get the information to as many people and organisations as possible.

It was also explained that all of the SENCOs had been brought together at an event at the end of September and 95% of schools were represented

It was agreed:

1. That the update be noted

2. That Jeanette and Ben be thanked for their update