Vision 2020 notes

Vision 2020

Last week the Council for Disabled Children (CDC) held a conference in London to talk about “Vision 2020” for Special Educational Needs and Disability support for children, young people and families.

We heard from:  Minister of State for Children and Families, Edward Timpson  Deputy Director, Stuart Miller from the Department for Education (DfE)  Director, Flora Goldhill from the Department of Health (DoH)  National Lead of Disability and SEN, Ofsted, Mary Rayner  SEND Tribunal judge, Jane McConnell.

Without exception, every presenter said the consultation from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) on the forthcoming SEND Inspection is critical.

Because, getting the Inspection framework right is critical and the local area reports it will generate will show the impact (or not) of the SEND Reforms.

Wherever there was challenge or anxiety about things not working as well as they could, the response was always along the lines of “feedback – and we’ll try and include it in the inspection framework”.

Just in case you haven’t done so already – here are the links for both the adult and young person’s consultations: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/local-area-send-consultation The consultation will run for 3 months and will close on 4th January 2016. And…the Word document is 21pages, but the consultation itself is a widely spaced 7 pages (14-21).

Vision 2020 - notes Below follows notes taken during the conference, including the Q&A’s.

NB: these are Romany’s own notes. Italics and quotations marks are used for verbatim comment or text from slides.

When the slides are available, we publicise on Dear All and forward the slides to the Local Offer for publication.

Flora Goldhill, Director for Children, Families & Maternity and Health Inequalities, Department for Health (DoH) Flora talked about the challenges of getting the Health into the Education, Health & Care Plan. Whilst the DoH can’t promise to make national changes quickly, they can promise to keep listening and responding.

“No-one gets up in the morning planning to be obstructive.” The DoH promotes the idea of ‘Tell Us Once’. It’s a good approach and requires leadership and culture change.

Vision 2020 Notes rwr – 15th November 2015

Reference was made to the Future in Mind report which describes the output of the Childrens & Young People’s mental health taskforce (Sept.2014). A link is here: https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/41 4024/Childrens_Mental_Health.pdf Mary Rayner – National Lead of Disability and SEN, Ofsted There will be no judgement from the SEND Inspections; instead there will be a narrative report published. Please return consultation on the inspection framework; so far they have had 700 responses (nationally) of these 250 from young people.

Ofsted & the CQC are planning Spring seminars for professionals and families, after the consultation period closes, and before the Inspections begin.

“The Inspections will focus on:  Identifying Special Needs  Meeting Needs and Improving Outcomes” “The first inspections will be a challenge – post SEND Reforms – and we’ll see the reality of the programme, plus who is making a good job of it.”

Mary’s slides went to cover the points “Successful implementation of the reforms” the first of which is: “Local Areas must work in partnership with these children, young people and their parents and carers to understand their needs so that outcomes can improve.”  The Inspections will seek assurance that LA knows and can action the points listed in the slides (too many to list in this bulletin). The Inspectors will be visiting schools, not to inspect provision, but… to see how it fits into Local Area offer. There will be a two day notice period.

A few Q&A from the first Panel (Mary Rayner and Flora Goldhill) : Q: Is co-production still a key element of this? We’re not hearing the word so much.

A: Yes, without a doubt. Co-production is still key to success.

Q: The EHC Plans include Social Care and Health. BUT children in SEN Support also access those services. (combined with Q below) Q: There is no standard protocol to ensure DfE and DoH share data. I (Head of SEN, N’d) get most of my data from the Schools Census, but this only lists primary need; not the other 3 needs a child might have. We will fail in our Ofsted inspections if this data is not fixed.

A: This is on our agenda in the DfE and it’s a #1 issue in the DoH. The problems are mainly due to data protection laws. However, we know that it is safer to share data – than to not share it.

Q: Is safeguarding included in the inspection? If not, why not. The SEN Code of Practice mentions ‘keeping the child healthy’ but does not mention ‘keeping the child safe’

Vision 2020 Notes rwr – 15th November 2015

A: This is not currently included in the SEND Ofsted, but we can take this away and look further. (additional verbal note from CDC CEO “there will be strong feelings in the sector about this”) Q: Will the inspection include questions on whether or not the SENCo has mandatory qualifications?

A: Yes, will weave into the inspections.

Q: With regards to Mental Health, especially autism. It can take two years to get an appointment with CAMHS. What are you doing about this?

A: Yes, we are working on this. Future in Mind (see link above) BREAK Ed Timpson, Minister of State for Children and Families Ed received a very warm welcome and recalled the reasons for SEND Reforms:  Families have had to fight too hard for support  Poor outcomes for young people despite huge investment in their support  The law doesn’t encourage partnership One of the intentions of the SEND Reforms is to give the young person control and choice. It will make a real difference when all is working well.

“Our vision for children with SEN and disabilities is the same as that for all children and young people – that they achieve well in their early years, at school and in college, that they find employment; lead happy and fulfilled lives; and experience choice and control.”

Ed recognised that “Health are the hardest nut to crack.”

Mental health is a priority. Investment includes Social & Environment (PSCHE) lessons in school, plus work like Future in Mind (see link above).

Consultation on Ofsted / CQC Inspection framework: please respond to this. Tell us what we need to inspect. These Inspections are in addition to the termly surveys of LA’s and Parent Forums (SFV in Kingston & Richmond) On the purpose of Inspections: it’s to ensure that “needs are being met in Local Areas” In terms of disagreement resolution, want to make it possible to include ‘Health’ and ‘Social Care’ in tribunals in the future.

In terms of the Spending Review, Ed’s view was that fairer funding, better matched to need; “I will be making this case strongly for SEND and children and young people, to ensure a fair formula” post spending review.

Vision 2020 Notes rwr – 15th November 2015

In terms of Implementation of these reforms, we have to continue with “determination, humility and a willingness from us all” (the humility bit, for my money, is about recognising that we are learning as we go) Questions to Ed (he had a train to catch): Q: Will the Care Act work for disabled children? This is “awakening the other ministers as to the implication and unforeseen impact”. What are you going to do about it? Rob Holland, public affairs and parliamentary lead, Mencap A: I will be doing my best to ensure all my areas of priority are included in the spending review.

Q: “What training are you putting in place for schools that say No to taking a child or young person with SEND.” A: This is “against the law” and “unacceptable”. “It might be that school doesn’t want that kind of child. However, what we have to ask is Why? Is it the school’s approach or a finance concern?” Ed then referred to a DfE director (Stuart Miller) and asked that he follow up on this point.

Judge Jane McConnell – First-Tier (SEND) Tribunal Last year, there were 4000 appeals to Tribunal. Following the SEN Reforms there were 3200. Of these, around 2000 were under the old law, and the rest (1157) were EHC Plans.

Of these, 600 were a refusal to assess, 97 a refusal to make a plan. 400 fitted the statutory requirements (Sections B, F, I). Also, 258 were brought by young people, not their parents.

So, 80% of all new appeals that were under the new system informed the law.

Simple rule for Local Authorities (LA’s): “If you don’t want to go to Tribunal, follow the law.” Most cases relate to LA’s not following the law. Therefore, the LA’s will lose.

Rule is, re Sections B, F and I is to take care where you put outcomes. Please don’t ask the judge to make a ruling on this. Health and Social Care must go into section F if they “educate or train”. CAMHS can also go into part F. With regard to naming a school, (section I), saying a “school is full” is never a reason to say no. Independent schools that sign up to Section 41 need to understand the commitment they’ve made. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/section-41-secretary-of-stateapproved-list Remember – the Tribunal will apply the law, not the Local Authority’s SEN Policy.

Questions to second panel – Jane McConnell, Stuart Miller and Mary Rayner Q 1 & 2: “Where are the Educational Psychologists… all very well saying we need these reports, but how/what/where when there is no capacity!?!”

A: feed that back via Inspection framework consultation Vision 2020 Notes rwr – 15th November 2015

Q 3: “Schools have many masters. However much we (parents), the LA and SENCo’s work well together, what can we do if a school does the legal minimum badly?”

A: Feedback via the Inspection framework consultation and look to Section 41 Q 4: Re schools’ capital – whilst we can identify pupils, and thinking of those with complex asd, often there is no provision. Please invest. Will the commissioning strategy, look at children we will have had instead of children we have had in the past?.

A: (with apologies, my notes don’t give a detailed answer – the response was around data and matching systems) Q 5. “With regard to a school refusing a child, can the Secretary for State over-rule the statement ‘we’re full’ ?“ A: Yes. The school has to demonstrate impact and that there are no reasonable steps that can be taken to accommodate the child. That is very hard to do.

Last few questions were noted, but time pressures meant answers not given in full: Q 6: Re Speech & Language Therapy (SaLT), there is insufficient provision – school will not let me (a SaLT) out to work in the home. So now the child is likely to end up in 52 week provision because I cannot teach these skills in the home.

Q 7: Will you be extending Independent Supporters programme?

Q 8: Question on capacity for authorities and services to deliver. Need vs available resources vs Impact Q 9: Please extend the April 18 deadline for getting all the transfers to EHCPs done We don’t have the capacity to do it all.

A: General to all the above. No plan to do so at the moment, or to adjust this in advance of the Spending Review. That’s not to say we won’t consider it. …ends/// Romany attended workshop with Steve Broach. Scratch notes below. Paper copy of slides available – hope to get them electronically.

Little case law – why? Because the new system is so great? More use of mediation?

Delay in issuing plans? Time will tell.

Note on duties of Local Offer – LAs are duty bound to reply & publish general feedback. ( eg Why are there no Occupational Therapists?) Personal queries and complaints are a separate process.

PCNA = Parent Carer Needs Assessment. Follow this up. There is a statutory duty here.  There followed quite a lot of discussion on this subject. Eligibility criteria is: “can I have an assessment please”.

Bit on mental capacity. Can have mental capacity in one area – but not another.

Caroline attended workshop on SEN Funding. Notes to follow.

Vision 2020 Notes rwr – 15th November 2015

…ends///2