Agenda item

The Cabinet Member for Social Care and Health Integration and the Cabinet Member for Educational Attainment and School Improvement introduced a report to the Assembly on the joint local area Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Inspection in Barking and Dagenham.

Between 27 March and 31 March 2017, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) conducted a joint inspection of Barking and Dagenham, to judge the effectiveness of the area in implementing the disability and special educational needs reforms as set out in the Children and Families Act 2014.  The inspection was led by one of Her Majesty’s Inspectors from Ofsted, supported by a team of inspectors from Ofsted Iand the CQC children’s services division.

During the 5-day inspection, the inspection team sought the views and opinions of children and young people, their parents and carers.  Inspectors also visited a range of providers and spoke to leaders, staff and governors about how they were implementing the special educational needs reforms. 

The Assembly noted that the local area received the final joint inspection letter from Ofsted and the CQC on 21 June 2017. The letter detailed the inspectors’ key findings and outcomes in a narrative of areas of strength and areas requiring development, rather than a specific grading.  Barking and Dagenham’s Local Area SEND Inspection letter was attached to the report at Appendix A.

The Assembly were pleased to note that, overall, the outcome of Barking and Dagenham’s inspection was positive.  The inspection letter highlighted many strengths across education, health and social care, particularly in terms of the support that was offered to children and young people with SEND and their families.

In terms of development, the inspectors noted that insufficient numbers of parents and young people knew about, or used, the Local Offer to find advice and help.   The Local Offer sets out in one place information about provision across education, health and social care for children and young people who have SEN or were disabled – including support for their families.  A further area related to the capacity to provide therapies such as speech and language, occupational and physiotherapy, due to issues with recruiting and training staff which led to delays in Educational, Health and Care (EHC) plans.  The low proportion of young adults who had learning disabilities in training and employment was also identified as an area for development.

The Cabinet Members advised that in response to the findings of the inspection, an action plan was in development which would be presented to the Health and Wellbeing Board. The action plan would include proposals to further improve the offer for children and young people with disabilities and/ or special educational needs in Barking and Dagenham.

The Assembly resolved to:

(i)  Note the findings of the SEND inspection, as detailed in the letter at Appendix A to the report; and

(ii)  Note the development of a multi-agency Local Area SEND Action Plan to address the identified areas for improvement and improve outcomes for children and young people with disabilities in Barking and Dagenham.