Tag: NNPCF

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DfE NNPCF work SEND AP Implementation Board. SENDAP

SEND AP Implementation Board

Co-chairs Tina Emery, Mrunal Sisodia, with the incoming co-chair Sarah Clarke, recently met with SEND AP Implementation Board. Which was chaired by Minster Claire Coutinho. This was the first meeting to be held.

The Board will be jointly chaired by the children’s Minster Claire Coutinho and the mental health Minster Maria Caulfield. 

The Board is made up of various experts across the SEND sector to offer support, challenge and solutions to the work set out in the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) improvement plan 

The Board will be responsible for challenging the priority areas of work and supporting the rigor and pace that is required for progression of improvement plan.

The priorities of areas of work discussed at the meeting were:

  • The importance of Local Plans and Partnerships which determine the priorities of an area across all sectors to successfully deliver the plans for improvements. The NNPCF raised the need for Parent Carer Forums and the lived experience to be central to these discussions, so that improvements were coproduced.
  • National Standards and their role in reducing post code lotteries across education and health services ensuring consistent high quality support.  The need for a clear understanding of what ‘good’ looked like and importance of that shared national understanding was also discussed.
  • How workforce capacity and capability played a vital role in determining that there is sufficient workforce in the right areas to support change.
  • The standardisation and digitisation of the EHCP process and the requirements required to implement successfully.

National SEND and alternative provision implementation board – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

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NNPCF

NNPCF co chair, Tina Emery,receives OBE

We are super proud to share that our excellent co chair Tina Emery has been awarded an OBE for services to Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities in King Charles Birthday honours list.

On receiving the news Tina said,

‘This has come as a bit of a surprise. I didn’t ever think this would be me. I’m only a small part of the work that is carried out by parent carer forums everyday. I couldn’t do this job without every single one of you.

Thank you for the kind messages people have relayed to me. I’m so proud to be part of a superb team and superb movement.’

You can see the list on the government website:

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-kings-birthday-honours-list-2023/birthday-honours-list-2023-pm-list-transparency-data-html

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Consultation NHS England

May Consultation briefing

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.

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Communication access symbol NNPCF work

NNPCF become accredited with the Communications Access Symbol

The Communications Access Symbol is an initiative developed in partnership by charities and organisations that share a vision to improve the lives of people with communication difficulties.

The communication access symbol scheme is led by the Royal College of Speech and Language Therapists and was coproduced with a number of stakeholders including the NNPCF.

A completely free training package is available to any individual or business that wishes to sign up to the symbol.

Businesses that have already signed up to the symbol include Job Centres, University of East Anglia, various Citizen’s Advice Bureau locations and some NHS trusts among many others!

We are delighted to say the NNPCF have recently been accredited with a number of our Steering Group, Management Team and National Representative Team completing the training.

We would encourage you to take a look at the scheme and sign up to the training too.

Sharing the scheme with your contacts would be especially helpful. If more individuals and organisations become accredited it would really help people with communication needs.

If you would like to mention it to your Local Authorities and ICS’s please feel free to do so, and encourage their sign up as well!

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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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NNPCF NNPCF Steering Group

New NNPCF Co-Chair

Sarah Clarke new NNPCF co-chair

Sarah Clarke appointed NNPCF Co-Chair as Mrunal Sisodia steps down

We are delighted to announce that Sarah Clarke, steering group member for the South East, has been elected as NNPCF Co-Chair by the board at a meeting on Tuesday 25 April. Sarah has served on the steering group for the last three years.

This means that after seven years our co chair, Mrunal Sisodia is stepping down from his role as NNPCF Co-Chair and East of England Steering Group member. Mrunal has been on the steering group since July 2016 and has served two full terms. He will be stepping own from both roles at the end of July.

Until then, he will be working with Sarah and Tina Emery, joint Co-Chair, to ensure a clear hand over of responsibilities.

The NNPCF will be contacting the East of England region to recruit a new regional steering group member later this week.

On her appointment Sarah said,

“It is a such an honour to have the opportunity to represent our families as the Co-Chair of the NNPCF.  Mrunal and Tina made an amazing team and I hope that Tina and I will have that same strength.  I am grateful that we have a network, of wonderful, committed parent carer forums, who never cease to inspire me with the work that they do.  The NNPCF also has a dedicated Steering Group and Management Team whose support for my appointment has been very touching and I can’t wait to get started.”

On stepping down Mrunal stated,

“I have very mixed feelings about stepping down from the NNPCF steering group. On one hand it has been such a pleasure and a privilege working with such a passionate, committed and positive group of people and second to being a dad, I suspect this will be the most important role I ever have. On the other hand, I know that after serving my two terms, seven years on the NNPCF steering group it is time for me to move on – the organisation will continue to grow and do even greater work without me.

On that note, I am so pleased that at yesterday’s NNPCF steering group meeting, we elected Sarah to take over the post of Co-Chair from August. I have worked with Sarah for the last three years and I have every confidence that she will move the NNPCF onwards building on the work done by all the steering group members and cochairs that have preceded her.

I will be working with Sarah and the NNPCF steering group and management team over the next three months to ensure a smooth handover and I know that I won’t be missed.”

Co-Chair Tina Emery added,

“I have had the absolute pleasure of working with Mrunal since 2017. He has inspired and taught the team loads over his tenure, offering his insights into the political world like no other.

Whilst he says he won’t be missed, he will.

When you take on the role of Co-Chair, you worry that you will leave the NNPCF in a worse place than where you started, Mrunal you need not have worried. I am in awe of what we have achieved together as a team, we now have a strong steering group and management teams and you were the driver of that change. We as an organisation are more independent than ever and we thank you for having that vision and drawing the team together to start that journey. We are definitely in a better place now.

Your new role in the East of England Ambulance service NHS Trust are really lucky to have your vision and your drive and we will wish you well.

I am really pleased that Sarah will be joining us as the new Co-Chair, she has experience in the steering group. Together with forums, Steering group and management team, we will strive forward with the coproduction message, working with partners across all agencies.”

We will be starting the process to replace Mrunal as the East of England steering group member ASAP.

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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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NNPCF

New virtual postal address

We have moved to a virtual office, where anything sent via the post will be forwarded to our Companies House Registered alternative inspection address.

Our new virtual address is:

National Network of Parent Carer Forums C.I.C.

124 City Road

London

EC1V 2NX

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Consultation Government Uncategorized

March consultation briefing



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