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NNPCF work

Representing your views: NNPCF work to share the parent carer perspective

Despite the recent political turmoil, the NNPCF has continued to represent the views of parent carer forums with key national and local bodies. At a time when the schools, health and care systems are starting major reforms, the NNPCF is working hard to make sure that the view of families are considered by those people responsible for shaping and delivering services.

On 24 May, NNPCF cochair Mrunal Sisodia attended the special session held by the Education Select Committee in response to the SEND Green Paper. The Committee has recently written to the Department for Education with its recommendations and many of the key points raised by the NNPCF are included in the letter including:

  • The need to greater early intervention – not enough money is spent early and too much only when families “get to crisis.”
  • The need for improved accountability and the NNPCF call for Ofsted to require that in order for a school to be rated good or outstanding, it must be good or outstanding at SEND
  • The call from the NNPCF for Education Health and Care Plans to become “Employment Health and Care Plans” at transition to help support young people start a career.

You can find the full letter here: Education Committee – Correspondence – Committees – UK Parliament

Following a fallow period during the pandemic, major national conferences have been running again and Mrunal has also represented the views of the NNPCF at several large events recently. Mrunal attended and spoke at the Local Government Association conference to local councillors and local authority chief executives in Harrogate. He also spoke at the Conference of the Association of Directors of Children’s Services in Manchester to an audience comprised of DCS’s and their deputies. And finally, Mrunal attended the virtual Westminster insights conference into SEND.

At all these events Mrunal gave feedback on the recent SEND Green Paper and the NNPCF response emphasising again, the need for early intervention, joint working, and coproduction with families. Whilst minutes and transcripts from these events are not made available, you can find the key points Mrunal made here in the NNPCF webinar providing the initial response to the SEND Green Paper NNPCF response to the SEND Green Paper – YouTube

Finally, the NNPCF continued its involvement in supporting the training of elected councillors through delivering a course on the Local Government Association “Children’s Leadership Essentials” course. Over the years the NNPCF has trained hundreds of local councillors on the lived experience of families with SEND and the value of effective coproduction through this programme. Mrunal was joined by one of our national representatives, Heather Delaney for this event.

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Bills and legislations Department for Education Education NNPCF work Parent Carer Forums SEND Review

The SEND Green Paper: NNPCF briefing

What does it say and what does the NNPCF think about it?

The NNPCF co-chairs, Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia held a briefing on the contents of the long-awaited SEND and Alternative Provision Green Paper consultation for parent carer forums on 23 May.

A recording of the session can now be viewed by following the links below:

YouTube recording of the briefing

Slides from the briefing

Mentimeter survey results

The NNPCF have also published their parent carer survey.

They hope to collect as many responses as possible from all parent carers, not just those who are involved in their local parent carer forums.

The responses of the survey will help to inform the NNPCF’s own response to the SEND Green Paper consultation.

Co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia stated that, “The Green Paper is an opportunity to reset the SEND system after the 2014 reforms failed to deliver the improvements that families of children with SEND so desperately need. It is vital that every parent carer’s voice is heard and so we have launched a short, simple survey to gather parental views that we will use to inform our response to the Green Paper. We will, of course, also publish the survey results.”

You can complete the survey here: https://www.surveymonkey.co.uk/r/J63QX22

The survey should take no more than 10-15 minutes to complete and remains open until the 30 June.

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Care Quality Commision NNPCF work

Care Quality Commision (CQC) presentation 20/04/22

Attended by Tina Emery and Sarah Clarke

Prior to the meeting a quick mentimeter survey was sent out with questions to all forums, about the CQC’s role in the LA SEND Inspections and how forums understood the CQC’s role in the inspections.  A limited number of forums replied due to the Easter holidays, although 65 forums did respond.

The mentimeter survey clearly demonstrated a lack of consistency in forum involvement and understanding of the role of the CQC. Even following a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) and a revisit.

The presentation was received well and generated discussion around the consistency of forums involvement in the inspection process and how could the CQC improve forums understanding and communications between forums and CQC.

This was the first time that the NNPCF have been asked to present to the CQC and the feedback at the meeting was positive and likely to lead to additional coproduction work between the CQC and the NNPCF.

CQC-presentationDownload
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consultations Department for Education Education Minister for children and families Parent Carer Forums SEND Review

SEND Green Paper engagement events with the Department for Education and parent carer forums

The special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) and alternative provision (AP) consultation was published at the end of March. The NNPCF have been working with the Green Paper team at the Department for Education (DfE) to organise a series of engagement events for parent carer forums to feedback and discuss the plans outlined in the Green Paper.

There are three different categories of events:

A national webinar hosted by NNPCF co-chairs Tina Emery and Mrunal Sisodia – 12 noon 23 May

At this event Mrunal and Tina will share the initial NNPCF response to the proposals. The session will step through the Green Paper outlining which proposals the NNPCF supports and which we have concerns about. The session will be interactive, and we will be seeking flash feedback from parent carer forums on their views of some of the proposals in the Green Paper. We will also outline the different ways that parent carer forums as well as individual parents can respond to the consultation and have their voices heard.

To sign up for this event please use the following link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZModeCvrTwoGNUve-OwXisL0SQaUniHSchz

Regional events hosted by the Department for Education for Parent Carer Forums

The DfE Green Paper team will be attending NNPCF regional events to share the thinking behind the Green Paper and to have a discussion with regional parent carer groups about their thoughts on the proposals. In these sessions the DfE team will offer a short presentation of 20-30 minutes and then will take feedback and questions relating to the Green Paper for the rest of the hour. The objective of these sessions is to offer parent carer forums the opportunity to have frank and honest exchanges with the DfE team. The sessions will not be recorded due to confidentiality reasons.

The schedule of events is as follows:

RegionDateTimeVirtual or in person meeting
North East26 May11am – 12.30pmVirtual
North West   
Yorkshire and Humber24 May10amIn person York
West Midlands16 May1pmVirtual
East Midlands8 June10amVirtual
East of England12 May10am-2pmIn person – Cambridge
London
16 May 10am-12.30pmVirtual
South East20 May10am-12noonVirtual
South West10 May12:30pm-2pmVirtual (Teams)
Please note, any gaps to the table will be filled once confirmed by the DfE.
Details of how to join these meetings will be sent out through the usual regional parent carer forum channels.

National SEND review briefing hosted by Minister Will Quince

We are currently working with the DfE to organise a national webinar. This will give parent carer forums the opportunity to discuss and feedback to the DfE on the proposals set out in the Green Paper. Children and Families Minister Will Quince will host this event. Once the dates have been confirmed we will publish the webinar, with more information including how to register for the session.

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Bills and legislations consultations parent carer forum guidance

Proposed changes to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 Code of Practice and implementation of the Liberty Protection Safeguards

Policy briefing for parent carer forums

The Government are consulting on the proposed changes to the Mental Capacity Act 2005 (MCA) Code of Practice, which includes guidance on the new Liberty Protection Safeguards (LPS) system. The consultation is also seeking views on the LiPS regulations, which will underpin the new system.

You can access the consultation here.

This is a joint consultation published by the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).

The LPS will apply to people over the age of 16, and the Department for Education (DfE) has been involved in the development of this new system.

What is Mental Capacity?

Mental capacity is the ability to make decisions.

This could be small decisions like what we eat or the clothes we wear, or could be much bigger decisions, for example where we live and who we live with.

The Mental Capacity Act (MCA) sets some important key principles. 

  • The starting point should be that a person must be assumed to have capacity unless it is established that they lack capacity.
  • A right to support in making decisions: “A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision unless all practicable steps to help him to do so have been taken without success.” The right to make unwise decisions: “A person is not to be treated as unable to make a decision merely because he makes an unwise decision.”
  • Capacity is based on a single decision at a single time, so some people may have fluctuating capacity, meaning they can decide one day and not the next depending on their wellbeing. Therefore, this needs to be taken into consideration when assessing capacity and considering a time when someone is likely to be at their most able to make a decision.

Provision is made in the Children and Families Act to deal with this.

Under the Act, lacking mental capacity has the same meaning as in the Mental Capacity Act (MCA) 2005.

The Mental Capacity Act 2005 sets out what should happen when people are unable to make one or more decisions for themselves. It clarifies the roles that different people play in decision-making, including family carers.

Children under 16

For children under 16, the Mental Capacity Act does not apply.  Instead, a child needs to be assessed whether they have enough understanding to make up their own mind about the benefits and risks of treatment – this is sometimes termed ‘Gillick competence’ and means that the child has the competency to give consent and make decisions. The term ‘Gillick’ competence is usually used when considering medical treatments.

What is Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS)?

The Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DoLS), referred to as ‘safeguards’ are part of the Mental Capacity Act (2005). They aim to protect people in care homes, hospitals, and the community from being inappropriately deprived of their liberty or that the appropriate process is followed if the person does not have capacity and is being deprived of their liberty. 

When considering a deprivation of liberty for a 16- or 17-year-old, where the young person lacks capacity to consent themselves to arrangements which meet the ‘acid test’ for deprivation of liberty (i.e., under continuous supervision and control and not free to leave), it is not sufficient for parents to consent to this arrangement. In such circumstances the Court of Protection will often need to approve such an arrangement.

It is recognised that in most situations, providers and families are working in the best interest of a young person. Often when a young person is deprived of their liberty, it is usually with the purpose to safeguard them from harm or harm to others. However, when considering any action, for example preventing a young person from leaving a home, thought should be given to what is the least restrictive option for the young person, whilst keeping them safe.

What are Liberty Protection Safeguards?

The Liberty Protection Safeguards were introduced in the Mental Capacity (Amendment) Act 2019 and will replace the Deprivation of Liberty Safeguards (DOLs) system. The UK government is now consulting on draft regulations which will underpin the new system.

It is envisaged that the new LPS will provide a more streamline system to manage any deprivation of liberty. The implementation of these new arrangements has been delayed and so far, there is no confirmed date when they will be introduced. Therefore, the present arrangements will remain in place for the near future.

When introduced the Liberty Protection Safeguards will provide protection for people aged 16 and above who are or who need to be deprived of their liberty to enable their care or treatment and lack the mental capacity to consent to their arrangements.

People who might have a Liberty Protection Safeguards authorisation include those with autism and learning disabilities who lack the relevant capacity.

What does this mean for forums?

  • Forums should make their members aware of the proposed changes.
  • Forums may wish to respond to the consultation or share their views with the NNPCF Consultation & Policy Lead to inform the NNPCF response.
  • Forums should be aware of the how mental capacity is assessed and decision making supported in their local area for young people with complex needs.
  • Forums should consider how this may affect the education and wider outcomes children and young people with complex needs are achieving.