There are lots of opportunities for forums to represent the experiences of their members this month.
More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below.
The NNPCF is also looking for individual parents to help with our case studies, that we can use when working with the Department of Education and other partners, to evidence our shared experiences living with a child or young person with special educational needs and disabilities.
In particular, this month, we have been asked to feedback on parent carers experiences of their child or young person with SEN being admitted to hospital because of poor mental health, and we would really value more case studies on this topic.
Currently open inquiries and consultations that may be of interest to forums and included in this briefing:
Reasonable force and restrictive practice in schools
Department of Education consultation closes 11 May
You can read the NNPCF response here:https://nnpcf.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/Reasonable-force-and-restrictive-practice-consulatation.pdf
Accessible transport
Parliamentary Transport Committee inquiry closes 20 March
Court reform programme
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee inquiry into the roll out of the court reform programme closes 20 March
Progress in improving mental heath services
Parliamentary Public Accounts Committee inquiry closes 3 April
Department of Education use of reasonable force and restrictive practice in schools
The NNPCF is looking to respond to this government consultation and is looking for input from our wider membership to help inform the response.
It would be really helpful for forum leads to share our survey on reasonable force and restrictive practice in schools.
The survey can be found at https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/7QGHVZ3
Through this consultation the government is seeking to understand how reasonable force, restraint and restrictive practices are used in schools to inform revisions to guidance. The Government has committed to minimising the use of restraint in all schools and in instances where restraint is necessary and lawful, to support school to use it as safely as possible.
Forum leads and parents are able to respond directly to the consultation themselves here:
Use of reasonable force and restrictive practices in schools – Call for evidence – Department for Education – Citizen Space
NNPCF Case studies
The NNPCF is collecting case studies of parent carers and their experiences for use in meetings with various professionals and to inform our policy development.
Please can forums let their members know about the opportunity to be involved in this vital piece of national work.
All case studies will be anonymised and data held securely and confidentially.
Case studies are currently open in the follow areas:
Parental experience of children being in residential settings out of their community and about to embark on returning to their local community or now returned to their local community https://forms.office.com/r/A3GDjfnXbQ
Parent carer views on children’s needs not be met in school, or where they are struggling in their educational setting, for those without an EHCP
https://forms.office.com/r/Kks9BpB9Mx
Parental views on children’s needs not being met or they are struggling because of COVID-19
https://forms.office.com/r/3Urd5fXLWL
Where school transport is affecting a child’s attendance at school or other educational setting https://forms.office.com/r/wAMjbuKt4F
Taking a local authority to tribunal for placement issues
https://forms.office.com/r/D1JY4dnbsL
Where a child has been admitted to or is at risk of being admitted to hospital because of poor mental health: https://forms.office.com/r/AKAQFCDsxa
https://nnpcf.org.uk/2022/10/25/case-studies-for-the-dfe-send-review-team/
Court reform progress review
Closing date 20 March
The Public Accounts Committee will be questioning senior officials at the Ministry of Justice, MNCTS and the CPS on the progress HMCTS has made against its plans in the face of changing circumstance, and whether it has planned and rolled out its new digital case management system, Common Platform, effectively.
The NNPCF has as yet to make contact with anyone who attended an SEND tribunal before the digital system and after its roll out, so we are currently unable to feedback how this has changed the experience for parents of children and young people with SEND. If your forum knows of anyone who
is willing to share experiences of how the new digital management system for tribunals is working compared to the non-digital system, please contact our policy and consultation lead, Claire Fisher, at consultation@nnpcf.org.uk .
https://committees.parliament.uk/call-for-evidence/3056/
Accessible Transport Consultation
Closes 20 March
The Parliamentary Transport Committee is currently running an accessible transport: legal obligations inquiry into whether legal obligations on transport operators and local licensing
authorities are being met across different modes of transport.
The committee has also developed an easy read version of their terms of reference here.
Forums and forum members may wish to give their views and experiences of accessible transport in their area.
There are two ways to respond.
Personal responses to the question “does public transport work for people with access needs?” can be answered through a survey here.
The full call for evidence can be accessed here and has questions such as:
- Are there specific transport modes or kinds of journeys where compliance with legal obligations is especially patchy?
- Are there differences according to where in the country you are travelling?
- What difficulties does this cause for travellers with access needs?
- Do current legal obligations or guidance need to be strengthened?
- What best practices should transport operators be following to improve their performance on access and inclusion for users?
- How effective is the Government’s Inclusive Transport Strategy, and how well does it influence decision-making across transport policy?
- How could it be improved?
Please see the government website for more information:
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/6805/accessibletransport-legal-obligations/
Progress in improving Mental Health Services
Closing date 6pm 3 April
The Public Accounts Parliamentary Committee will be questioning senior officials at the
Department of Health and Social Care and NHS England on whether the government has achieved
value for money in its efforts to date to expand and improve NHS-funded mental health services.
Questions will include whether the Department of Health and Social Care, NHS England and Health
Education England:
- have a clear understanding of how initiatives to date contribute to the longer-term goal of
closing the gap between mental and physical health services; - have met ambitions to increase access, capacity, workforce, and funding for mental health
services, and improve service standards; - are well placed to overcome the risks and challenges, including the impact of COVID-19,
to achieve future ambitions.
Forums can give submit their views on their area here.
https://committees.parliament.uk/work/7315/progress-improving-mental-health-services