Reflections from Steve Crocker - 22 May 2024
Steve Crocker is the Oxfordshire SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board’s independent chair.
Hello and welcome to my sixth blog as independent chair of the Oxfordshire SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board (SIAB).
The board met once more on 22 May.
Chair’s remarks and forward plan
I began by welcoming the board members and thanking them for their continued efforts to improve the SEND system in Oxfordshire. We continue to work hard to drive forward the improvements needed.
I highlighted that this meeting was a pivot point as the board would hear from the thematic leads for the SEND transformation programme about progress and plans for next steps and priority actions. The next meeting in June will be dedicated to the Department for Education’s stocktake, which would review the priority actions and areas of improvement and the July meeting will focus on health.
As always, I encouraged the board members to share their ideas and feedback on the forward plan and to keep the priority actions in mind throughout the meeting.
First on the agenda, we had a quick update from Lisa Lyons, Oxfordshire County Council’s Director of Children’s Services, on the Department for Education’s stocktake on progress of our collective improvement work.
DfE stocktake
Lisa gave an update on the preparation for the DfE stocktake, which would take place on 24 June. She thanked everyone for their flexibility and collaboration in finalising the timetable and the evidence to be presented. The evidence will cover the progress against the priority actions and the areas of improvement, as well as the wider aspects of the SEND system. The DfE had arranged a specific time for the parent carers forum to meet with them. Mark McCurrie, the DfE adviser, confirmed the format and the purpose of the stocktake, and said he would be in touch with the board members in the interim.
Next up, we had Nathan Thomas, CEO Acer Trust who gave us an update on the ‘right support at the right time ’transformation programme theme of activity.
Right support at the right time in inclusive settings
Nathan gave an overview of the work that had been done and the challenges that remained. He said the main focus was to put the right frameworks and groundwork in place to support early intervention and identification of needs in schools and settings. He reported on the good progress made on the continuous professional development programme, enhanced pathways, the SENDCO helpdesk and the relational schools programme. He also mentioned the new areas that had been added to this theme, such as alternative provision and the banding framework.
Nathan raised the issue of securing the funding and the staffing for the initiatives that had proven to be effective, such as the enhanced pathways and the SEND helpdesk. He also said that some of the timelines and actions for the other areas, such as the banding review, needed to be reviewed and adjusted. Nathan is working with Lisa to further explore the student voice and how feedback could inform the work of this theme.
Oxfordshire Parent Carers Forum (OxPCF) commented it would like to contribute to this programme theme group, emphasising its commitment to amplifying the parent carer voice within its activities.
Following this, we moved on to discuss the next programme activity theme, ‘right plan, right first time’. Deborah Smit, Oxfordshire County Council’s Head of SEND provided the main update for us.
Right plan, right first time, every time
Deborah outlined that the main aim of this area is to improve the quality and timeliness of the statutory processes and the education, health and care plans (EHCP). The four key steps of the statutory process have been mapped out: the request for an education, health and care needs assessment (EHCNA); the decision to assess or not; the decision to issue a plan or not; and the annual review process. The progress against the actions from the priority action plan have also been reviewed and some areas that are on track and some that are delayed or need more work have been identified.
A new education advice template, a revised quality improvement framework, a guidance tool for settings on requesting an EHCNA (with input from OxPCF) and an audit tool for advice and EHCPs have been developed. Training and support for the EHCP casework team, the multi-agency panel, and the service managers is planned with some already delivered. Deborah highlighted the next steps included planning to update the service reports, launch the guidance tool, finalise the quality improvement framework and resolve some of the data and system issues we have.
To complete the three themes, we then turned to the last programme activity theme ‘right provision, right time, looking to independence’. Chris Wright, Assistant Director, Partnership Development at NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire, Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB) and Emma Leaver, Service Director, Oxford Health provided the update.
Right provision, right time, looking to independence
Chris and Emma outlined that the main focus was to improve the commissioning and delivery of services, and the transition to adulthood for young people with SEND. They said they are looking at five projects relating to children's integrated therapies, emotional and mental health and wellbeing, the neurodevelopmental pathway, special school nursing, and transitioning to adulthood.
These mainly respond to priority areas two and four from the priority action plan, and they have two common risks: the availability of resource against increasing demand, and the potential for reverting to thresholds and criteria instead of a needs-based approach.
They have also identified some areas for simplification, such as the referral and access processes, and some areas for better utilisation of expertise and specialisms, such as the neurodevelopmental pathway. Moving forward, OxPCF and other key stakeholders will explore opportunities for co-production in some of the projects and initiatives.
Next on the agenda was an update on some of the cross-cutting activity for the programme.
Cross-cutting activity
The board heard from different leads and contributors on the cross-cutting themes, such as co-production, voice of children and young people, sufficiency, data and dashboards, and finance.
Jules Francis-Sinclair, Chair of Oxfordshire Parent Carers Forum (OxPCF), reported on specific co-production workstream activity. OxPCF has helped to facilitate a focus group with parent carers and one with professionals, alongside Emily George, SEND Transformation Programme Manager. They are currently in the process of developing a quick form to catch the views of those that weren't part of these groups. Jules recognised that this activity is a good first step for engagement and consultation and has arranged to meet with programme leads and chairs to identify co-production opportunities.
Lisa Lyons reported on the voice of children and young people workstream, which is setting up a SEND advisory youth forum. It is also planning to use Let's talk Oxfordshire, the county council’s digital engagement and consultation platform, to gather views from a wider range of children and young people through established networks and groups, and with trusted adults.
Martin Goff, Head of Access to Learning, Oxfordshire County Council, reported on the sufficiency workstream, which had a number of projects to provide additional school places for children and young people with SEND, such as new special schools, resource bases and SEND hubs.
Emily George, SEND Transformation Programme Manager, reported on the data and dashboards workstream, which has a plan to develop and release the dashboards after resolving some data issues.
So that’s it from me for now, and I hope, as always, this is useful. We next meet as a board on 26 June 2024.
If you are a parent or carer and have any thoughts or comments, please share with OxPCF by emailing info@oxpcf.org.uk. If you are a partner, please do feedback through your organisation. You can find a list of the LAP member representatives on the board on the SEND improvement webpage. Also don’t forget to sign-up to receive the SEND e-newsletter if you’re not already receiving it.
Until next time.