Category: Department for Education

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Call for evidence Department for Education

Call for Evidence on Improving Support for Children Missing Education

The Department for Education has recently launched a Call for Evidence on Improving Support for Children Missing Education.

Children missing education (CME) are children of compulsory school age who are not registered pupils at a school and are not receiving suitable education otherwise than at school (for example, through elective home education).

This comprises a wide range of children, including some of the most vulnerable in England. CME are a tiny minority of England’s school-age children, but they must be identified and supported into education as quickly as possible to minimise the negative impact of missing education.

The government want to understand current best practice approaches and how local authorities, schools, and others can be empowered to further identify and support CME, ensuring that every child has an opportunity to an excellent education wherever they live and whatever their background.

Within the call for evidence on Improving Support for Children Missing Education, we are seeking the sector’s views regarding:

• best practice in identifying and supporting CME

• challenges faced in identifying and supporting CME

• how challenges in identifying and supporting CME could be addressed

The call for evidence will be open until 20th July: https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/improving-support-for-children-missing-education

We would encourage you to share your insights and experience with the government by responding to the call for evidence.

Please also share with others who may be interested in providing views.

Insight gathered through this call for evidence will inform future policy thinking and supplement the existing children missing education statutory guidance available here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/children-missing-education

If you have any questions, please contact CME.CALLFOREVIDENCE@education.gov.uk

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2023 Conference Contact DfE NHS NNPCF NNPCF conference

NNPCF & Contact joint conference 2023

Our 2022/23 conference this year was a two part event, with a digital offering as well as an in person conference in Bristol.

Face-to-face conference

Our face-to-face conference was held on 28 February 2023 at the Double Tree by Hilton in Bristol City Centre.

The day was jointly organised and facilitated jointly the Contact and NNPCF teams.

We were joined by PCF members from around the country, as well as representatives from the NHS and the DfE.

The conference was livestreamed for the first time and you can watch the sessions below.

Contact’s Carolyn and our co chair Tina, opened the conference with a very warm welcome to our attendees. Amanda Batten gave her last conference speech, as she has now stepped down from her role as Contact’s Chief Executive.

 https://youtu.be/2Ph61WMCdLw.  

You can download the opening presentation here.

Next came an Ofsted SEND inspection framework update from Dr Tina Pagett, HMI for Ofsted.  https://youtu.be/KqKKF14QFeo  

Our co chair Mrunal gave an impassioned address, asking the question ‘What next for SEND?’ highlighting that the time it was taking to put the 2014 SEND reforms into place was equal to an actual childhood.  https://youtu.be/8iQub582AXY  

Download Mrunal’s presentation here.

The Q&A panel, included Alison Ismail, the Director for SEND and Alternative Provision at the DfE, Amanda Allard, the Deputy Director for Health, at the Council for Disabled Children,Tina Pagett, HMI, for further education and skills at Ofsted and Sue Nort from National Health England who answered questions that had been submitted from our PCF members in advance. https://youtu.be/Phc7un-iZQI

The Eva Sharma, from the DfE gave a presentation about the National Standards, something that had been included in the SEND review. This led to a round the table coproduction session with our attendees, who explored what should be included in the national standards in each stage of a child’s development.  https://youtu.be/mwbvhSgwcm8 

Download the DfE coproduction session slides here

Finally we welcomed the minister for Children Families and Wellbeing, Claire Coutinho, who had joined us for the afternoon. She gave an address and hinted about the much anticipated SEND and AP green paper review response. The minister then answered questions from our co chair Tina.  https://youtu.be/10oR7_V8UI8

Virtual conference

Thank you to all those who joined us at our joint virtual conference which took place on January 31, February 1 and February 2.

Please see the links below to recordings of sessions, as well as the resources.

Planning the recovery in children’s community services

The NNPCF has heard throughout the year of the challenges faced by families accessing community based services including SALT, ASD / ADHD services and paediatricians in the wake of the covid 19 pandemic.

NHS England has created a new recovery team to address these issues around children’s services who have agreed to speak to NNPCF membership about what NHS data is telling them and the steps they are exploring to tackle the problems. Included was an opportunity to coproduce the latest thinking on what the model for recovery might look like. Watch the recording session here you can also download the presentation, the Menti survey results and Menti summary from the session.

NNPCF AGM

This session includes:

  • Review the first six months of our operation as a Community Interest Company from October 2021 to March 2022
  • A look at what has happened in the world of SEND since April 2022 and put it into the broader context of political turmoil, cost of living and the NHS.
  • Coproduce our priorities for the coming year 2023-24 that will form the basis of our business plan and longer term strategy.

You can watch the AGM recording here  and download the slides from the presentation too.

IPSEA SEND law

IPSEA, the SEND legal support charity, lead a session that outlines the major pieces of legislation that protect children and young people with SEND including the Children and Families Act, Equalities Act, Chronically Sick and Disabled Persons Act. They cover the tools that families (and forums) have at their disposal to seek redress if they have concerns. IPSEA also cover the services and support that they offer and how forums can seek further help and training.

View the recording of the session along with the presentation and a Q&A document from the session.

Delivering Better Value in SEND (DBV)

This interactive session provided an opportunity for parents and carers to understand the DBV programme, ask questions, and contribute to how it is set up for success. The session explores:

  • What the DBV in SEND programme is and how it sits alongside other DfE activities
  • The progress made and findings to date
  • How to best connect parent-carers into the work of the programme

See the following link to the local authorities participating in DBV – https://nnpcf.org.uk/2022/10/19/dfe-update-delivering-better-value-for-send-and-safety-valve/

You can watch the recording of the session and download the presentation

Developing the Parent Carer Forum handbook with Contact

Last year, Contact asked what forums wanted in the new forum handbook – In this session they share the survey results and discuss how to take things forward to develop a handbook that works for all parent carer forums.

View a recording of the session here.

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Department for Education

DfE publishes Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review

The DfE recently published the Academies Regulatory and Commissioning Review which aims to set out a ‘framework for growing the impact of the academies system, so parents and carers can be confident that their child will receive a high-quality education wherever they live.’

You can find the review here Academies regulatory and commissioning review – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

The review comprises of three main sections:

  1. Regulatory oversight for academies
  2. Trust quality and commissioning
  3. Effective Practice and self-improvement

The NNPCF were not a part of the review advisory group although we did have extensive contact with the Department for Education including the Minister for Schools Systems Baroness Barren.

You can find a note of our meetings here Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C (nnpcf.org.uk)

We have been very clear that the accountability of the schools system needs a major overhaul. We have consistently called for a closer alignment of the incentives, responsibilities, powers and accountability across the education sector across schools, trusts, local authorities, the DfE Regions Group and the inspectors (Ofsted). Forums tell us that schools are not incentivised to be inclusive and that local authorities and the DfE regions group cannot hold them to account if they are not.

The ability of the review to address these concerns is limited because since the Schools Bill was withdrawn, there is no legislation to make the changes we are looking for. As a result, it falls short of the tightening and clarification of accountability in schools that we believe the SEND system needs

However, the review, goes as far as it can to address some of our concerns without legislation:

  • We are pleased that SEND features very prominently in the document – it is made clear from the start that SEND should be a priority for all trusts and there is a strong read across the SENDAP Improvement Plan.
  • The first line of the definition of a high quality trust is “delivering high quality and inclusive education for all pupils”. More detailed descriptions of Trust quality will be published in late April. We are told that these will be clear on the importance of SEND and inclusive practice and will align with the SEND national standards from the SENDAP Improvement plan.
  • Aligned with the review, the DfE has also published the MAT Leadership Development: CEO Content framework which re-iterates the responsibilities of school leaders with regards to SEND Mat leadership development CEO content framework (publishing.service.gov.uk)
  • The document promises a review of the complaints system for parents making it clearer, simpler and less duplicative for them to seek redress. We will seek to work with the Department for Education on this topic.
  • The report also states that the commissioning system will be used to promote high quality trusts. However, there are no new powers to call to account existing trusts that are not inclusive.
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Department for Education NNPCF

Disabled children to benefit from funding for short breaks

The Department for Education has announced that eight new areas of the country will receive funding to deliver the short breaks programme, giving children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) a chance to take part in unforgettable activities and develop vitals skills, while giving their families a chance to rest and recoup.

The government funded programme provides councils with up to £1 million each for a year to work with families to develop innovative experiences that would otherwise be inaccessible to children because of their disability, as well as covering the costs of providing the activities.

The plans come following the recent publication of the SEND and Alternative Provision Improvement Plan, which outlines the government’s plan to transform the experiences and outcomes of children with special needs and disabilities, ensuring every child, no matter where they live, has access to a high-quality, fulfilling education.

For a list of the local authorities who will receive the funding, visit GOV.UK.For more information about the Short Breaks Innovation Fund, visit the Education Hub

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Department for Education Education Minister for the School System NNPCF work

Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review

Earlier this week, our co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia met with the Minister for the School System, Baroness Barran, to discuss the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review.

The meeting covered the NNPCF’s input into the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review . This group has been looking at the accountability framework for academies.

The current accountability regime remains very unclear. The division of powers, responsibilities, regulation and enforcement between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the DfE Regions Group is confused. We hear too often about schools that do not make reasonable adjustments or promote inclusion that parents and local authorities are powerless to hold to account.

We asked the minister to ensure that the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review closed these gaps and enforce that schools, local authorities and Integrated Care Systems meet needs.

The success of the SENDAP Improvement Plan published last week depends on whether the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review can address these concerns.

In particular, we raised three main issues with the minister:

  • The inability of individual families to seek redress when they believe that a school is not promoting inclusion. For example, if they are failing to make reasonable adjustments. In these cases, parents have to use the school or trust’s complaints process, something that a delegate at our 2023 conference described as “marking their own homework.”
  • The need to align the powers, responsibilities and accountability between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities, the DfE Regions Group and Integrated Care Systems. There are huge gaps which mean that no-one has the authority to effectively hold schools to account.
  • Greater clarity on what inclusive practice is and what good looks like. The Schools Bill defined a strong trust as being “inclusive”. We asked for clarity on what these means and how it will be assessed.

Unfortunately, following the shelving of the Schools Bill, the ability to make regulatory changes may be constrained and we are concerned that the scope of change that the Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review may bring will be limited.

The team promised to meet the NNPCF steering group to further develop these points.

For our previous work on this area please see:

NNPCF Steering Group meet with Minister on Schools White Paper – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C

Initial NNPCF response to the Schools White Paper – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C

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Department for Education Government NNPCF NNPCF work SEND Review SENDAP

Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision (SENDAP) Improvement Plan published

Today, the government has published its long awaited response to the SEND Green Paper, the SENDAP Improvement Plan.

The plan outlines the steps that the government will be taking over the next few years to address the problems in the SEND system that have resulted in poor experiences for many children, young people (CYP) and families. The plan follows the SEND Green Paper and the subsequent consultation conducted by the Department for Education (DfE) in 2022. Our NNPCF co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia were part of the steering group that advised on and reviewed the Green Paper and drafts of this plan.

On its publication, NNPCF Co-chairs, Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia said,

”There is much to welcome in the SENDAP Implementation Plan, in particular, we are pleased to see that national standards will form the basis of ordinarily available provision, have such a prominent role. The NNPCF argued for the need for national standards during the SEND review and 90% of respondents to our survey agreed that they were needed. If implemented well, national standards will form the basis of early intervention and clearly identify who is responsible for providing and paying for services.

Similarly, we are pleased to see local inclusion partnerships and plans being taken forward. Linked to the new Ofsted / CQC local area inspection framework that includes an annual review of inclusion plans, these will drive the joined up working and commissioning that has so often been missing.

Some of the proposals that the NNPCF disagreed with, notably the tailored list of settings, mandatory mediation and bandings and tariffs remain in the plan. However, we are pleased that these areas are being reviewed and piloted before implementation decisions are made.

Unfortunately, in some areas, the plan does not go as far as we would want. In the absence of legislation, the accountability regime, the mix of responsibilities, powers and regulation between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the DfE Regions Group – remains unclear.

We urge the ongoing Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review to address these gaps. In addition, we remain concerned about the pace of change. It will be 2030 before this plan is fully implemented and this is literally a childhood since the original SEND reforms in the Children and Families Act 2014.

We, the NNPCF, will continue work with government and NHSE to ensure that urgency to address the problems in the SEND system remains a priority.”

There are many things in the Implementation Plan that the NNPCF welcome:

National standards to form the basis of ordinarily available provision. Properly implemented, national standards will drive early intervention and form the foundation of what families can expect from services, what services can expect from each other as well as who is responsible for delivering and paying. In our survey 90% of respondents were in favour of national standards. We have received assurances from ministers that national standards will not be a list prescribed or allowed services for a list of diagnoses. Also, national standards will not form a cap on what can be provided to meet needs, individual needs must still be met.

SEND and AP partnerships and local inclusion plans will require local areas to have a clear and shared understanding of the needs of the local population and work together to address them. We are pleased that these will be reviewed annually as a part of the Ofsted / CQC local area inspection regime. In our survey, respondents were clear that education, health and care services needed to work together more actively and comply with national standards

The sections on the development of the SEND workforce, both inside and outside of schools are very welcome.  In our survey, 97% of respondents said that teaching staff needed better training on SEND.

We called for better data on SEND to drive inclusion and incentivise local areas to identify needs and provide early help. The inclusion dashboards proposed will do this if properly designed.

The proposed Adjustments Passport to support disabled young people into work is something that the NNPCF has been asking for over the last five years

We are pleased that some of the lessons of 2014 have been learnt. There will be a properly constituted change programme to systemically implement the plan with meaningful review and accountability through regional expert partnerships and a new National SENDAP Implementation Board.

However, there are some areas included in the plan that we continue to have reservations about. We have noted that these areas are going to be piloted and tested through the regional expert partnerships:

  • The tailored list of settings remains in the plan despite being supported by only 20% of respondents in our survey.
  • Mandatory mediation has very mixed support – we have expressed concern about the mechanism for mandatory mediation and the risk that this denies or delays access to redress via the tribunal.
  • Similarly, our survey showed no clear support for bandings and tariffs with only 47% or responses in favour.

Unfortunately, there are many areas that remain very worrying for the NNPCF, where more clarity is required:

The accountability regime remains ambiguous. The division of powers, responsibilities, regulation and enforcement between schools, multi-academy trusts, local authorities and the DfE Regions Group remain unclear. We hear too often about schools that do not make reasonable adjustments or promote inclusion. Parents and local authorities are powerless to hold them to account. The ongoing Academies Regulation and Commissioning Review must close these gaps to ensure that schools, local authorities and Integrated Care Systems meet needs.

When the SENDAP Green Paper and Schools White Paper were launched in March 2022 , the intention was to support both with legislation. Now, this will not happen. Without legislation, we are concerned that some of the measures critical to success can no longer be made mandatory (e.g. national standards and greater accountability for schools).

Finally, the pace of change must not lose urgency. There are many areas of the plan that require further development and definition. We welcome the intention to coproduce key elements and we look to supporting partners to achieve this in the most expedient way. We must collectively ensure that this work is given the priority our SEND families deserve.

The SEND system is in crisis now and we need urgent progress and action.

For more background on the SENDAP implementation plan and the NNPCF input in the Green Paper and consultation please see:

NNPCF response to the SEND Green Paper and Alternative Provision consultation. – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C

Find out what parent carers have told us about the SEND Green Paper and coproduce the NNPCF consultation – YouTube

SEND-review-results-NNPCF-2022.pdf

Categories
Department for Education Government Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing NNPCF NNPCF Steering Group NNPCF work

Meeting the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing

On Tuesday 10 January 2023, The NNPCF Steering Group (SG) met with the Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Clare Coutinho, via Teams.

This was the first time the minister had met the SG and we wanted to inform her what we had been hearing from our forum membership.

It was an excellent opportunity to give an overview of the work that the SG has been involved in, what the challenges are to the SEND system, but also the good production work that has been happening.

We know that in order to make the change to the SEND system, it has to be done in coproduction.

We gave the minister a brief overview of the NNPCF, our membership and the number of forums that we have, their locations and how they are split into regions.

We then spoke to her about the top issues forums have been raising via our regional meetings.

The subjects included:

Access to community-based health services – including access to speech and language therapy (SALT), Autism and ADHD pathways and paediatricians.

Cost of living – how this affects parent carers differently. Not being able to work more hours due to caring responsibilities, the need to use electricity for live saving equipment, the need to keep the heating on constantly as some of our children cannot move independently or regulate their temperatures.

SEN Support and EHCPs – this included the lack of reasonable adjustments in school that can lead to the rise of low attendance, and the need for EHCPs. EHCPs taking longer than the statutory 20 weeks and having to wait months for annual reviews to be completed.

We then talked about the coproduction examples we have in our annual report

In Cornwall they were the first year of the key work project that is now in it’s 3rd year. They have just completed their evaluation. There have been no negative responses to the evaluation. Parent carers, young people and practitioners agree, that the keyworker project is not only needed, its life changing. We have cases of families who are risk of being admitted into tier 4 beds and families who are at risk of going into crisis- this project has saved them. We have children and young people who could have gone into tier 4 beds who are now at university.

In Telford & Wrekin – PODS Parent Carer Forum identified a gap in provision for families whose child was awaiting an assessment on neurodevelopment pathways.  They worked together with Educational Psychologist (EP) team and ran support sessions (in person and online) for families to support them with ‘Challenges at Home’.  These were based on feedback from families via Annual Surveys.  The sessions covered support around anxiety, routines, behaviour and wider concerns within the family. Further evidence was identified, and they have also ran 1:1 sessions.  Funding was agreed for two years for the project and this was made available from health

In West Sussex they have established a relationship with Chichester University where they train teachers and SENCo’s. They regularly join sessions and talk through what good practice looks like and what parents carers have encountered. Bringing real life stories to the classroom has had a huge impact on the trainees. They have now been asked to do the same with trainee social workers too.

The session concluded with a discussion on the next steps for the green paper. There is concern, not just in the system, but with parent carers too about what happens next. There is much anticipation for the green paper response and there is concern.

The minister fully engaged with the conversations and reassured the SG that SEND was a priority for her, as was the green paper response.

We are in communication with her office, and hope that she will join us in person at our conference, in Bristol on 28 February.

Categories
Care Quality Commision Department for Education DfE guidance NNPCF Ofsted

New local area SEND inspection framework released 

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission have released the new framework and handbook for local area inspections.

Area SEND: framework and handbook – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk) 

The NNPCF have been closely engaged in the development of the new framework over the last 18 months ranging from feeding back on parent carer perspectives on the first round of inspections to local forums engaging in the pilot inspections under the new framework run by Ofsted and the CQC in recent months.  

There are significant changes in the new framework, most notably: 

Four different types of inspection dependent upon the status of the local area: 

  • Full inspections 
  • Monitoring visits for those areas with identified areas for priority action 
  • Engagement meetings to evaluate an areas self-assessment and development plans 
  • Thematic visits to explore different aspects of the SEND system 

There will be three categories of rating given to local areas 

  • Local services lead to positive experiences for CYP with SEND 
  • Inconsistent experiences 
  • Significant concerns 

  • There will be a greater focus on outcomes and impact compared to the previous inspection regime which focussed more on the implementation of the 2014 reforms 
  • In their work, the experiences of CYP with SEND will form the central plank of the assessment. This will be done through surveys, talking to parent carer and CYP representative groups and looking at six representative case studies chosen by the inspectors. 

Many of the themes that the NNPCF made representations on have been reflected in the new framework including a greater focus on outcomes, joint working, early help and coproduction with families. There are strong ties across things we asked for in the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper through the production of a joined up strategic plan. 

We are particularly pleased that the NNPCF has been successful in ensuring that the new framework recognises the importance of parent carer forums in the inspection process. It specifies several areas in which parent carer forums are involved: 

  • Making arrangements for the local area survey 
  • Meeting inspectors at the start of the inspection to develop its scope 
  • Meeting inspectors to discuss the self evaluation and strategic planning of a local area 
  • Participation in the feedback meeting 
  • Receipt of a copy of the final report (from the local area) 
  • Notification of the arrangements for monitoring inspections 

We are keen to seek early feedback from those areas that have taken part in the pilot inspections under this new framework.

If your area has been a pilot area, please complete this short survey. https://forms.office.com/e/W5nvbDc1Vd 

We will use this information to feed back to the inspectors about how they can improve the implementation of the new framework and we will share the findings with our member forums to brief them on what they can expect. 

You can find some of our work on this subject here 

NNPCF work to improve accountability in the SEND system – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C 

Care Quality Commision (CQC) presentation 20/04/22 – National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C (nnpcf.org.uk) 

Response Data (nnpcf.org.uk) 

Categories
Department for Education Education Government NNPCF work

SEND Reform update

Earlier today Tuesday 29 November, NNPCF Co-chair Mrunal Sisodia spoke with Minister Clare Coutinho about the plans for the DfE response to the SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper. The Minister informed Mrunal that the Department’s response will not be published before Christmas as originally planned. Instead, they are targeting publication for early in the new year – no specific timeline for this has been agreed.

The delay was resulting from the recent Ministerial changes in government and the desire of the new Ministers to get to grips with the agenda and to allow sufficient time to engage with parent carers.

We received the following update from the DfE;

Today the Department for Education (DfE) has published a letter from the Rt Hon Gillian Keegan MP, Secretary of State for Education, sent to those working across the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) sector. 

In the letter, the minister clarifies her commitment to improve the experiences of children and young people with SEND or in AP, within a fairer, more inclusive, and sustainable system across education, health and care. 

She sets out plans for publishing a response to the SEND Review consultation, working alongside the new ministerial team to understand the extensive feedback, before publishing a full response, in the form of an improvement plan early in the new year.   
 
Ahead of the improvement plan being published, the Education Secretary has confirmed that children and young people with SEND will benefit from wellbeing and technology support straight away, with new funding announced for educational psychologists and assistive technology. This money will continue to support the system to deliver change and continue to improve the outcomes and experiences of children and young people with SEND and those who need alternative provision.  

You can find a link to the communications from the Department for Education here which includes a letter from Gillian Keegan, the Secretary of State for Education.

Categories
Department for Education Government Minister for children and families NNPCF NNPCF work

New Children and Families Minister

Our NNPCF Cochairs meet with new Children and Families Minister

10 November 2022

On Monday, NNPCF cochairs Tina and Mrunal met with the newly appointed Undersecretary of State for Children, Families and Wellbeing, Clare Coutinho.

This meeting took place before Ministerial portfolios were officially announced – an indication of the importance of the NNPCF in the work being done by the Department for Education.

The Minister stated that she was very passionate about SEND and that the SEND agenda, along with the Independent Review into Children’s Social Care would be her biggest priority. At this early stage, she was unable to provide a detailed update on the immediate next steps for the SEND and AP Green Paper and the Schools Bill, she promised to keep the NNPCF informed and understood the interest in these items.

This was a short, introductory meeting and the Minister promised to continue to work with the NNPCF and parent carer forums. Tina and Mrunal invited the Minister to attend the national conference in Bristol on 28 February and to meet with the NNPCF board. We will keep you informed of further contact.

You can read more about Clare Coutinho, the new Parliamentary Under Secretary of State Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing on the government website.