I’m a researcher at the Department for Education, and we are running a short research project about how to improve access and experience of early years childcare for children with SEND. I found details of your organisation which supports parents of children with SEND/additional needs or concerns, and I wanted to ask if you would be able to circulate the following information to any parents within your group who may be interested in taking part.
Who are we looking for?
Parents of a child aged 2-4 with SEND or emerging needs who are currently using childcare.
Parents of a child aged 2-4 with SEND or emerging needs who have used childcare in the past, or who have tried to access childcare but haven’t been able to
I have included a poster below which contains more information, and if you wanted to speak to me directly before expressing interest, I can book in a phone or teams call. This is a great opportunity for parents to actively contribute their ideas to help design solutions that could influence planned reforms and existing childcare provision and support for children with SEND. Anyone who takes part will receive a Thank You e-voucher after the research of £40.
Anyone who is interested in taking part, or wants to find out more, can email dfe.research@education.gov.uk or scan the QR code below.
There has been a proposal to change A levels and T levels.
Recently, our cochair’s, accompanied by one of our London reps, went to see what it was all about at two Department for Education engagement events.
The Advanced British Standard is a new framework, expected to be introduced in about 10 years’ time, to bring together technical and academic routes into a single framework, replacing current A levels and T Levels.
The new framework intends to:
increase the number of taught hours for all students (minimum 1,475 hours over two years)
require students to study Maths and English to the age of 18.
offer greater breadth, increasing the average number of subjects students take post 16 (usually a minimum of 5), with students able to choose a combination of bigger and smaller subjects, called ‘majors’ and ‘minors.’
£600 million will be invested over the next two years to support schools and colleges in laying the groundwork for delivering the Advanced British Standard.
The engagement sessions were held with a wide range of stakeholder groups; from industry, further education settings, to those who run apprenticeships and more. There were lots of discussions in the rooms, and a keen interest to ensure that any new system is fit for purpose and will meet the needs of young people in 2034. Unfortunately, there was very little focus on SEND in the presentations, which we challenged, along with how inclusive and accessible these changes were going to be for all SEND pupils. We also raised concerns around training for new teachers/staff, delivery, including space for all students to be in college 4 days a week, with some work around infrastructure being promised pre-release of this programme.
This consultation seeks views on revised versions of the non-statutory elective home education (EHE) guidance for local authorities and parents.
The EHE guidance was last updated in 2019 and is due for review. Both sets of guidance are a vital resource for parents and local authorities to help them understand their roles and legal responsibilities around EHE.
The changes made aim to help parents and local authorities better understand what they are required to do to ensure all children receive a suitable education.
NB. this consultation covers all parents who educate their child otherwise than at school, children who are educated other than at school. It is not just EHE.
Parliamentary consultation , closes 02 January 2024
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee is looking at how better planning and urban design in England could enhance the health and well-being of children and young people.
It will look at how children and young people can use outside public spaces and move around their neighbourhoods: how they can be active and visibly part of their communities – whether it is their street, housing development, estate, town centre, village, public square or park. And it will look at what role the Government may have in making the built environment work in the best way possible.
Parent carers and forums may wish to respond to this inquiry to ensure the voices of children with special educational needs and disabilities are heard during this inquiry,
Our consultation update includes the current live government consultations, which can be completed by forums or as an individual parent carer.
More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below:
Working Together to Safeguard Children is the multi-agency statutory guidance that sets out expectations for the system that provides help, support and protection for children and their families.
It applies at every level from senior leaders to those in direct practice with families, and across all agencies and organisations that come into contact with children. It gives practitioners clarity about what is required of them individually and how they need to work in partnership with each other to deliver effective services.
Changes are being proposed to the section on the assessment of disabled children.
Information sharing advice for safeguarding practitioners.
The DfE is gathering a range of views to help ensure that the information sharing advice provides more clarity, is easily understood, and instils confidence to share information appropriately amongst practitioners.
This includes whether the changes will potential impact those who share protected characteristics such as disability.
Oliver McGowan code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism training
This Department of Health and Social Care consultation considers the extent to which the Oliver McGowan code of practice on statutory learning disability and autism training (the code) provides Care Quality Commission (CQC) registered providers with the necessary guidance.
CQC registered providers are now required to ensure their staff receive learning disability and autism training appropriate to their role.
Views and feedback from this consultation will inform the final version of the code to be laid to parliament.
The Levelling Up, Housing and Communities Committee are examining the role of Government, local councils and developers in ensuring the delivery of suitable housing for disabled people and what the Government can do to support disabled tenants in the private rented sector in England.The Committee is seeking evidence on a number of points that may be relevant to parent carers who need access to accessible and adaptable housing in all sectors of housing. It is also looking at how the Disabled Facilities Grant supports housing adaptions, as well as how government can support disabled residents who do not live in new build homes.
The Work and Pensions Committee is to examine how DWP supports vulnerable benefit claimants and whether its approach to safeguarding needs to change.
The Committee is looking to hear from people with lived experiences of these issues, and their families.
The Committee intends to hold a roundtable event with benefit claimants with additional needs to discuss the issues raised in this inquiry.
Further information on how to register your interest will be published on the Committee’s website.
The Committee is looking at the main challenges for vulnerable claimants when making a new benefit claim, as well as improving support for the process.
There are lots of opportunities for forums to represent the experiences of their members! More details on each consultation and parliamentary inquiry can be found below.
Currently open inquiries and consultations that may be of interest to forums and included in this briefing:
Improving support for children missing education
The Department for Education is seeking views on:
how children missing education are identified and supported
the challenges in identifying and supporting children missing education
how to address those challenges
The consultation covers a wide range of children missing education including those with SEND. Forums and individual parent carers can access the consultation here.
Major Conditions Strategy
The government is currently developing a major conditions strategy for England which will manage the 6 major groups of health conditions that affect most populations in England.
These are:
cancers
cardiovascular disease, including stroke and diabetes
chronic respiratory diseases
dementia
mental ill health
musculoskeletal disorders
This call for evidence builds on from the calls for evidence last year on cancer and mental health.
Forums and individual members can give their views on the major conditions strategy here.
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
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 restrictivepractice 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.
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
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?
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.
At our AGM on 31 January, we asked forums to help co-produce our priorities and strategic work for the upcoming year. We really value the input of parent carer forums in shaping the future for the NNPCF.
If you missed the AGM you can fill in our poll to help us shape our work over the next year here.
Poll closes 14 February
Major Conditions Strategy and Mental Health
Steven Barclay (Secretary of State for Health and Social Care) has announced the development of a Major Conditions strategy which will combine mental health policy with a broader strategy including other major conditions. It appears that this will replace the proposed 10 year Mental Health Plan and Health Disparities Paper.
The NNPCF is considering its response to this announcement and would like to hear from forums on this issue.
Forum leads are invited to fill in our forms survey here.
The NNPCF is also looking for case studies from individual members on mental health in children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities which can be completed here.
Prevention in Health and Social Care
The Health and Social Care committee is launching a major new inquiry into prevention in health and social care. At this stage of the inquiry, the committee are looking to hear from organisations who are interested in preventative healthcare.
The NNPCF will be submitting a response highlighting the need for therapies and early intervention, as well the importance of early intervention for mental health.
The committee is looking to find out
why these issues are important in preventative healthcare
why this area would benefit from scrutiny
why the government needs to take action in this area
The NNPCF already has several case studies on mental health but we would love some more to help inform our response. Individual parent carers can fill in the case study here.
Additionally, local forums can contact the NNPCF by emailing Claire Fisher at consultation@nnpcf.org.uk.
The NNPCF will be submitting a response representing the needs of children and young people with SEND including issues such as school transport, tribunal waiting times and schools not meeting needs.
The committee is looking to find out:
the factors causing persistent and severe absence among pupils with SEND and those in alternative provisions
how schools and families can be better supported to improve attendance, and how this affects pupils and families who are clinically vulnerable to covid-19
the impact of the department of education’s proposed reforms to improve attendance
the impact of breakfast clubs and free school meals on improving attendance for disadvantaged pupils
the role of Holiday Activities and Food programme and other after school and holiday clubs, such as sports, in improving attendance and engagement with school.
The NNPCF already has several case studies on attendance but we would love some more to help inform our response. Individual parent carers can fill in the case study here.
In May 2021 the Public Accounts Committee reported concerns about the catch up offer and the scale of hidden harm from the school closures during the pandemic including for children with special educational needs and disabilities. They stated “Children with special educational needs and disabilities found remote learning especially difficult, and some lost access to specialist support and equipment, increasing risks to their health and welfare.”
The Public Accounts committee will be questioning senior officials at the Department of Education and are running a call for evidence on how the department is supporting education recovery in schools following the COVID-19 pandemic, including:
whether it’s managing the programme for education recovery in schools in an effective way;
if it’s achieving value for money from the National Tutoring Programme;
and if it’s is achieving value for money from the other funding it has provided to support education recovery in schools.
Individual members and local forums can directly respond to this call for evidence at Education Recovery in Schools.
Closing date 27 February 2023
Energy Bills Support
Following on from the work done by the National Audit Office on Energy Bill Support, the Public Accounts Committee will question senior officials at the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy and the Treasury on the energy price scheme. The Call for Evidence covers many areas, including:
the schemes’ design and operation in practice
the options the government is looking at for future schemes
Individual members and local forums can respond to this call for evidence at Energy Bills Support.
Closing date 6pm 19 February 2023
UK Covid-19 Inquiry
The UK Covid-19 Inquiry is inviting individuals to share their experiences of the pandemic with them here. Module 3 on healthcare is currently open, and the NNPCF will be submitting evidence when invited to do so.
T Levels
The Department of Education (DofE) is seeking views on the content of future qualifications to support progression to T levels and are inviting feedback. The deadline for submitting responses if Thursday 6 April 2023.
As part of the review of post-16 qualifications at level 2 and below, the DofE intends to consider for funding level 2 qualifications designed to support progression to T levels; approved qualifications would be available for first teaching from 2026. These qualifications could be taken by young people as part of a broader T Level Transition Programme (TLTP), or by adults outside of a TLTP.
The DofE intends that the content of these qualifications will be based on the national technical outcomes (NTOs) developed for the T Level Transition Programme. The DofE are seeking views on how the NTOs should be used in developing these qualifications. Full details about the proposals and how to provide feedback can be found here.
Further information on the T Level Transition Programme and the national technical outcomes for the first eleven T Level routes, you can access this here.
We are looking at different ways of presenting information, below you can follow the link to our consultation sway.
