Agenda and minutes

Members and officers were invited to declare any interests they had in any of the items on the agenda for the meeting.

No declarations of interest were made.

To achieve any announcements from the Chair on matters related to the activity of the Board.

No announcements were made.

To agree, in accordance with Access to Information Rule 10.1, to exclude the press and public during consideration of agenda item 5 ‘SEND Written Statement of Action’ which contains information that is confidential and cannot be disclosed.

(Note: the Chair was of the opinion that this item, although not included on the agenda, should be considered as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) in order that the appropriate resolution can be passed to allow the matter to be considered appropriately.)

The Chair invited the Board to consider and approve the exclusion of the press and public from the meeting during consideration of the SEND Written Statement of Action. He explained that until the Statement had been accepted by the Department of Education it was considered confidential. He gave assurance that once the document had been accepted it would be made available on the Council’s website and other appropriate fora.

RESOLVED – That in order to prevent the disclosure of information that was confidential, the disclosure of which would be unlawful and not be in the public interest, the public be excluded from the meeting during consideration of agenda item 3 ‘SEND Written Statement of Action’ (see Minute 5 below).

To consider a report of the Director of Public Health.

The SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) has been produced following the recent OFSTED visit. It is a review of the current and future health and social care needs of the population aged 0 to 25 living with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in Stockport.

The Board is invited to approve the document for consultation.

(Note: the Chair was of the opinion that this item, although not included on the agenda, should be considered as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 (as amended) in order that the matter can be considered in conjunction with the other items on the agenda.)

(Note: The Chair was of the opinion that this item, although not included on the agenda, should be considered as a matter of urgency in accordance with Section 100B(4)(b) of the Local Government Act 1972 in order that the report and its information could be considered prior to the consideration of the SEND Written Statement of Action as its content had a bearing on that issue).

The Director of Public Health submitted the draft SEND Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA) (copies of which had been circulated) that had been produced following the recent OFSTED visit. The document presented a review of the current and future health and social care needs of the population aged 0 to 25 living with Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) in Stockport. The data had been collected from a range of sources including national and local datasets and the JSNA also included the views of children and young people with SEND and their families. The SEND JSNA would be submitted as part of the Written Statement of Action to the Department for Education.

The Director provided an overview of the key highlights and issues to arise from the JSNA.

Board members emphasised the importance of co-production with service users, families and cares and welcomed the qualitative information contained within the JSNA.

The Chair highlighted that this was a draft document that would be available for comment from interested parties and that any feedback would inform the final decision on the JSNA later in the year.

RESOLVED – That the draft SEND JSNA Document be approved for consultation.

To consider a report of the Director for Children’s Services, Stockport Council.

The Board will be asked to consider and endorse the Written Statement of Action, produced in response to the CQC and Ofsted inspection of Stockport's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND).

A joint report of the Director for Children’s Services, Stockport Council and the Interim Chief Operating Officer, Stockport Clinical Commissioning Group was submitted (copies of which had been circulated) inviting the Board to consider and comment upon the draft Written Statement of Action (WSoA) prepared by partners in response to the recent inspection of Special Education Need and Disability (SEND) Inspection. The WSoA would be submitted to the Department for Education (DfE) and be subject to further monitoring over coming months.

The Chair reiterated his earlier assurances that once accepted by the DfE the finalised WSoA would be published on the Council’s website and other appropriate fora.

The Chair thanked members who could not be present for their feedback to the WSoA provided outside of the meeting.

In response to comment and questions it was confirmed that the format of the document was in accordance with the expectations of the DfE based on other submissions and would be subject to further quality assurance by the DfE before its final adoption.

The Board was provided with assurances in relation to the establishment of appropriate collaborative governance arrangements to monitor the implementation of the WSoA.

In relation to the actions set out in the WSoA further clarification was provided that while at first reading it appeared that little activity had been undertaken to date this was due to DfE reporting requirements and based on their assessment of progress against those actions that would not begin until after the document was accepted by them. Assurance was given that work had begun on addressing the Review findings.

Board members emphasised the need to ensure the comprehensibility of any information published for the public with a clear narrative about what actions were being taken and the methodology for the RAG ratings being given to actions in the WSoA.

Further clarification was provided that the WSoA continued to evolve and be developed prior to the submission deadline of 26 February.

RESOLVED – (1) That endorsement be given to the ‘direction of travel’ of partners as captured in the SEND Written Statement of Action and approval in principal be given to the document.

(2) That authorisation be given to the Chair, Vice-Chair, Director for Children’s Services and the Interim Chief Accountable Officer to approve the final SEND Written Statement of Action prior to submission to the Department for Education.