Joint Bulletin November

NNPCF & Contact a Family Parent Carer Participation Bulletin December 2012

National Network of Parent Carer Forums ‘Our Strength is our Shared Experience’

No 5

Contact: Sue North Tel: 07738896474 sue.north@cafamily.org.uk info@nnpcf.org.uk

Strengthening Parent Carer Participation

CLARIFICATION LETTER FROM EDWARD TIMPSON IN RELATION TO THE CHILDREN AND FAMILIES BILL We know that there has been a lot of concern about the draft legislation in relation to the Special Educational Needs and Disability Bill, including concerns about the Bill removing parent carers rights to request assessments for an Education, Health and Care Plan, and that the new legislation would remove the duty on Local Authorities to provide the support identified within the legislation.

The co-chairs from the NNPCF have met with Edward Timpson, the new Children’s Minister, along with other colleagues from the sector. Through this and the other groups and meetings the NNPCF have representatives on, including the Council for Disabled Children and Special Educational Consortium, have continued to raise these concerns and issues.

We are pleased that Edward Timpson has now written clarifying the Department for Education’s position in relation to some of these issues, including the right to request an assessment, timescales, duties to provide assessed needs, and mediation. A copy of this letter is available on the following link http://www.councilfordisabledchildren.org.uk/media/272814/ ministers_letter_regarding_current_protections_in_new_system.pdf

DID YOU SEE PARENT CARERS FROM HAMPSHIRE PARENT CARER NETWORK GIVING EVIDENCE TO THE EDUCATION SELECT COMMITTEE? Sharon Smith (Chair of Hampshire Parent Carer Network) and Carol Dixon were invited to give evidence to the Education Select Committee in relation to the draft legislation. They, alongside some disabled young people were quizzed by the Select Committee about the challenges and opportunities that the legislation may bring for disabled children and their families. To watch their evidence, go to http://www.parliamentlive.tv/Main/Player.aspx?meetingId=11714

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UPDATES FROM THE NATIONAL NETWORK OF PARENT CARER FORUMS STEERING GROUP The last year has been challenging and busy for parent carer forums, and the NNPCF Steering Group has faced many similar challenges. During this time the Steering Group has focused on ensuring that the parent carer voice is being heard by the Department for Education, Department of Health, and other key national partners. We are currently preparing a report detailing all of this work to make sure that our wider membership—local parent carer forums—remain up to date with what has been happening. Watch out for this!

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Goodbye to Anna Gill

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Anna Gill is the parent carer who originally sat on the Ministerial Implementation Group for Aiming High for Disabled Children, and who was tasked with founding the National Network of Parent Carer Forums. Anna has been the co-chair of the NNPCF since its inception, but has now decided it is time to retire from this role. Anna has spent many years promoting parent carer participation, and recently sat on the Health Outcomes Forum as a parent carer representative and was honoured earlier this year with an OBE to recognise her significant contribution, particularly with Health. The Steering Group wish Anna the very best for the future, and thank her for her invaluable contribution to the development of parent participation and are pleased Anna will continue to be a non steering group representative for the NNPCF In light of Anna’s retirement, the Steering Group have voted in a new co-chair to work alongside the current co-chair Carrie Britton. The Steering Group are pleased to let you know that Sarah Thomas, the West Midlands Regional Representative has been selected as the new co-chair

All change for the Steering Group Well—it’s not all change really, but as you may remember from our last communication, we have been undertaking the regional representative selection process across the regions. In our last communication, we welcomed Richard Sutton for Yorkshire and Humber and Sherann Hillman for the North West.

This term, we are pleased to welcome Kay Moore as a second representative for London— our largest region with 33 Local Authorities to represent.

Dave Nutting is the newly selected representative for the East Midlands.

Doug Morris is our newly selected representative for the South West.

In 2013, we will be looking to select a new representative for the North East, and South East, so if you are interested in either of these positions, please check our governance documents on our website www.nnpcf.org.uk and feel free to speak to the current NNPCF regional representative to get a full picture of the role and what it entails.

We are looking for non steering group parent carer representatives. Are you a parent carer representative who is an active member of your local forum, and region, and would you feel confident to represent the views of parent carers with national partners? If you are interested in being a non steering group representative, you need to complete the form on our website — www.nnpcf.org.uk — and have the backing of your local forum. We pay an honorarium of £50.00 per day and all travel and childcare expenses.

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UPDATES FROM CONTACT A FAMILY Don’t forget to apply for the second part of your grant The closing date is 21st December 2012. If you miss this deadline you may not be able to claim this element of your grant, so please do not forget to do this. If you think your forum may have a challenge with this, or if you need to discuss varying your grant application please do not hesitate to speak to your Parent Carer Participation Advisor. You can find their contact details by following this link www.cafamily.org.uk

Learning and Development Opportunities There is still one further session in relation to the Law and Parent Carer “As a result of coming Forums that is being delivered on January 23rd 2013 in Leicester. on the training, We have now identified the There are a few places still available and if you want to book a place on necessary next steps to this contact Helen Jones—0773889 5007 or Helen.Jones@cafamily.org.uk

Web Learning Opportunities

take our forum forward.”

Participants

We know that some parent carers for various different reasons have been unable to attend the training and so some of our trainers have recorded brief summaries and key points of some of the core training. You can currently access these by going to http://www.cafamily.org.uk/what-we-do/parent-carer-participation/how-wesupport-forums-(england)/ These currently include Barrister Steve Broach updating on legal aspects for forums, Sarah Lee talking about Managing difficult situations and Dave Carr about Public Speaking for forum members. Several other sessions, including governance for forums, working with Local Authorities, and Safeguarding for forums will shortly be available to access. We are keen to develop our web based learning opportunities and would welcome your thoughts or comments about this or your expertise if you can share this with us . Please contact Helen Jones with any comments — 0773889 5007 or Helen.Jones@cafamily.org.uk

Together is Better—joint workshops for Parent Carer Forums and Parent Partnership Services You will have received the invitation to attend the ‘Together is Better’ workshop designed for Parent Carer Forums and Parent Partnership Services. Places are limited, and so we would encourage you to sign up as soon as possible. These sessions are being held in every region, and you can find out more about this training by contacting your regional parent carer participation advisor—contact details can be found here: http://www.cafamily.org.uk/media/477278/ parentcarerparticipationteamjan2012.pdf

A BIG THANK YOU -- Grant Monitoring Forms We wanted to thank all of you for your hard work in completing the grant monitoring forms as well as you have done this year. We fully appreciate how difficult they were to complete for many forums, and wanted you to know that the information you have provided has been invaluable to be able to evidence the progress that is being made, and the huge impact that you are all having in your local areas. We are currently completing an anonymised report that we will share with you so that all forums can see the national picture, and which may also provide you with information that is useful for your own discussions with your local partners.

OTHER NEWS

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NHS Health Mandate The Department of Health which sets the strategic objectives for the NHS. The Mandate includes a number of objectives for the NHS Commissioning Board that are important for the health of disabled children and young people, including a focus on improving partnerships across different services, the option of a personal budget, the important of integrations across health for transition, the role heath services must play with wider stakeholders, and placing the same importance on mental health as physical health. You can find the mandate here: https://www.wp.dh.gov.uk/publications/files/2012/11/mandate.pdf

Pathfinder Activity You may be in a pathfinder area, or will know of the pathfinder in your region. Making sure we learn from forums in pathfinder areas about what works, and the challenges they have experienced in trying work with their Local Areas to trial some of the new ways of working is vital. The Pathfinder Forums will be invited to a meeting with the Department for Education on February 8th 2012 to explore this learning, and have also been invited to feed into a report we are currently completing.

OPPORTUNITIES TO PARTICIPATE Scope — Keep us Close Campaign Scope is calling on the Government to include a 'Provide Local Principle' in the Children and Families Bill. The 'Provide Local Principle' would: Ensure services in a local area are inclusive and accessible and put a duty on local agencies to introduce new inclusive and accessible services if they don't exist in a local area. For more information about the campaign, and how you can be involved, go to http://www.scope.org.uk/sites/default/files/Keep%20Us%20Close%20%20About%20the%20campaign-%202%20pdf_0.pdf Contact a Family Unofficial School Exclusions This includes parents of a disabled child called by the school to pick their child up early because they are misbehaving, parents told that their child should remain at home while the rest of the class take part in a planned activity such as a school trip or parents who are not consulted before the school puts their child on a part-time timetable. Unofficial exclusions like this are unlawful and Contact a Family needs your help to find out more about the extent of unofficial exclusions for children with a disability or additional needs in England. Go to: https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/contactafamily_unofficialexclusion2012

EDCM— Campaigns to ensure EVERY disabled child matters, and campaign on the Welfare Reform Bill. EDCM are campaigning to ensure that the proposed legislation ensures EVERY disabled child matters, rather than a small number of children. They also have a current campaign about the Welfare Reform Bill. For more information please go to: http://www.edcm.org.uk/get-involved/take-action.aspx

Regional Network Meetings Don’t forget to find out when your next regional network meeting is. These are really important opportunities for forums to meet together, share intelligence and information, and have the opportunity to support and gain support from other parent carer forums. If you want to know when and where your next regional network meeting is, contact your NNPCF regional representative, or your CaF Regional Advisor.

Contact a Family: Registered Charity No. 284912. Charity registered in Scotland No. SC039169 Company limited by guarantee, registered in England and Wales No. 1633333 HM Revenue & Customs charity tax reference No. XN54769. VAT Reg. No. GB 749 3846 82