Agenda item

1.  That the statutory direction made by the Secretary of State for Education set out at Appendix 3 be noted.

2.  That the progress made to date, including the position as at July 2023 contained in Appendix 2 be noted.

3.  That the draft SEND Improvement Action Plan at Appendix 1 be noted.

4.  That a report setting out the full financial implications of the proposed actions be received at the November cabinet meeting.

5.  To receive SEND update reports on a quarterly basis. 

The Lead Member for children’s services introduced a report that updated the Cabinet on the progress of improvements to Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) services following the inspection by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission in Autumn 2021.

Lead Members noted the background including the approval by Cabinet in February 2022 of a Written Statement of Action (WSoA).  Officials from the Department for Education (DfE) had visited the Council in February 2023 and concluded that there had been a failure to make sufficient progress against any of the areas of significant weakness identified in the WSoA.  The DfE had therefore issued the Council with a Statutory Direction on 4^th August 2023.  In response, a new SEND Improvement Plan had been developed which incorporated the actions in the WSoA.

The Cabinet supported the plan and the budget monitoring actions.  Further update reports would be provided to Cabinet on a quarterly basis.

Resolved –

(a)  That the statutory direction made by the Secretary of State for Education set out at Appendix 3 be noted.

(b)  That the progress made to date, including the position as at July 2023 contained in Appendix 2 be noted.

(c)  That the draft SEND Improvement Action Plan at Appendix 1 be noted.

(d)  That a report setting out the full financial implications of the proposed actions be received at the November cabinet meeting.

(e)  To receive SEND update reports on a quarterly basis.