A report providing the Committee with an update on the progress being made to deliver the SEND Strategy for 2017 – 2022 and on the Short Breaks Review work, the Information, Advice and Support Service and the SEND Service performance.

Further to minute 45 of the meeting held on 31 January 2018 the Director of Children, Education and Early Help Services submitted a report providing the Committee with an update on the progress being made to deliver the SEND Strategy for 2017 – 2022 and on the Short Breaks Review work, the Information, Advice and Support Service and the SEND Service performance.  A proposal in relation to children with autistic spectrum condition (ASC) and social communication needs which had been developed to meet local need was attached to the report at Appendix 1.

The report set out the progress being made to deliver the Strategy as follows:

Strand 1 – Analysis of data and information to inform future provision and joint commissioning – This strand had continued to analyse the data report and use it to inform actions for the strand group and others. 

Strand 2 – Early identification of needs and early intervention – In order to understand whether children and young people’s needs were being correctly identified and provided with appropriate early interventions, an analysis of Early Years Education, Health and Care Plan Needs Assessments had been carried out.

Strand 3 – Using specialist services and identified best practice to increase local capacity – This strand had focused on the two areas of greatest need that had been identified through the data report and from feedback from parents/carers and schools: children with ASC and children with social, emotional and mental health (SEMH) difficulties.  A proposal had been developed to meet local need and the report recommended the initiation of a process for commissioning additional specialist provision for primary aged pupils with ASC and social and communication needs, including the statutory consultation process.  The proposal had identified the need for a further two smaller primary specialist provision bases across the Borough to enable children’s needs to be met more locally and that all three primary specialist provisions would provide capacity for at least ten places and would provide specialist outreach to schools within their area as well as being a hub for families to seek guidance and support.  It had also been proposed that the secondary specialist provision at Blessed Hugh Faringdon, which was due to expand, would be commissioned to provide outreach support for schools across the Borough.  Overall, the aim was to increase provision in the Borough therefore reducing the cost of out of Borough placements.

Strand 4 – Transition to adulthood – Since the strand 4 action plan had been developed in April 2018, the strand had focused on actions to deliver outcome 1, which not only provided a basis for the other four outcomes but also underpinned the operational work to transfer cases from the Children and Young people with Disabilities Team to Adult Social Care.

The report also detailed the outcomes as follows:

Outcome 1 – Current processes supporting young people with SEND into adulthood were being reviewed in order to identify good practice and areas for development, an Approaching Adulthood Policy had been developed and was being consulted on and the strand 4 group had identified the need for improved and earlier joint working between Children’s and Adults’ Services.

Outcome 2 – Reading Voluntary Action was taking the lead on work to identify and promote areas of best practice, the views of young people and their families about barriers to achieving independence and what needed to improve were being sought. The Annual Review process would be updated to ensure that it was informed by the experiences of young people and their families and the voice of the young person was heard in transition planning.

Outcome 3 – The strand 4 group was currently seeking the views of young people and their families to help improve information about transitions to adulthood. Information requirements would be embedded into the new transitions pathway so that practitioners knew what information young people and their families required and when, and an information booklet to support transitions had been developed and was being consulted on.

Outcome 4 – The action for this outcome would be informed by the actions that were currently being carried out.

Outcome 5 – This work was being aligned with the SIB developments to ensure that there was a joined-up approach across services to support vulnerable young people into adulthood.

The report stated that since 1 March 2018 all new referrals for adults over the age of 18 had been directed to the Adult Social Care Locality Teams.  There were approximately 90 young people aged 18 to 25 years old whose cases were to be transferred from the Children and Young People’s Disabilities Team (CYPDT) to Adult Social Care by September 2018 and resources had been identified and put in place to support the transfer of cases.  A sample of cases had been reviewed to determine the quality of cases, CYPDT social workers were preparing the cases for transfer and select cases had been identified for a phased transfer so that they could receive immediate support from Adult Social Care.

The report explained that the Schools Forum had continued to receive regular reports on High Needs Block spend and the deficit had been reduced by taking the actions that had been agreed through the SEND Strategy Board.  The SEND Team had been successful in meeting the March 2018 deadline for the conversion of statements of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and the service had maintained good performance against the measure of completing EHCPs within 20 weeks.  The DfE SEND Adviser had also continued to be positive on progress.

A group had been set up consisting of representatives from Reading Families Forum, the Voluntary Sector and officers, led by the SEND Improvement Adviser, to carry out the review work and develop proposals that would build capacity to meet families’ needs within universal services as well as ensure the short breaks offer met the needs and interests of young people.  This work included mapping what was in place and benchmarking costs of different opportunities, getting feedback from families/young people, exploring models of good practice elsewhere and working with colleagues in other agencies to ensure opportunities were identified and co-developed to meet young people’s interests locally.

Reading Families Forum had worked with the Information Advice and Support Services (IASS) Manager and the SEND Improvement Adviser to review service delivery.  The IASS Service Manager was now reporting to the SEND Improvement Adviser until transition to the new Children’s Company.  The helpline was working effectively and there had been further developments on the recruitment of volunteers.  On 29 May 2018 information was received on the new contract that had been commissioned to ensure that in every local authority area children and young people with SEND and their families had access to impartial information, advice and support covering SEND issues, including through a dedicated national free phone service.  Local authorities had also been required to express an interest in applying for a grant of up to £32k per authority by 5 June 2018, and then submit a full application by 15 June 2018.  The grant was for the period up to the end of March 2019 and the Council had been successful in being awarded the maximum amount of grant available of £32k.  The report set out the criteria that had to be met in order to receive the grant.

Resolved –

(1)     That the progress made on delivering the SEND Strategy be noted;

(2)     That the initiation of the process for commissioning additional specialist provision for primary aged pupils with Autistic Spectrum Condition and Social and Communication needs be approved;

(3)     That the work being carried out to review Short Breaks be noted;

(4)     That the developments within the IASS Service be noted.