Meeting documents

To receive the report.

The Board had an update following the Inspection report published in May 2020 into the Special Educational Needs and Disability (SEND) Services in Somerset. The inspectors found that SEND Services across the Local Area required significant improvement across nine areas and determined that a Written Statement of Action (WSoA) for improvement was required. The Written Statement of Action was approved for publication by Inspectors on 30th November 2020 and was published on 1nst December 2020.

The WSoA is monitored on a monthly basis through the SEND Improvement Board (SIB) containing members from across the Local Area. The WSoA contains nine improvement priorities areas linked to the nine areas of weakness.

Early progress has seen the following key improvements: -

·         Increasing the capacity of the SEND Casework Team,

·         Schools Led Inquiry into inclusive practice,

·         Increased capacity of the SENDIAS service,

·         Training the workforce,

·         Services have signed-up to involving parents and children in the design of services,

·         Relaunch of Early Help Processes in Schools,

·         Work with the Institute of Public Care (IPC) and Oxford Brookes University to understand the improvements required within Joint Commissioning,

·         Reduce the number of incidents of missed health notifications,

·         Redesigned guidance to ensure workers take a graduated response to interventions with families, ensuring families with SEND are treated fairly,

·         Launched a pilot app called ‘MeeTwo’, which provides peer support for young people experiencing mental health difficulties,

·         Mental Health Trail Blazer projects have been launched in pilot areas supporting pupils with emotional health and wellbeing and

·         A single point of contact for parents seeking SEND advice, support and guidance from the Local Authority has been established.

The next monitoring visit will be in June 2021.

The Board discussed the report and welcomed the progress that had already been made and acknowledged the challenges identified.

The Somerset Health and Wellbeing Board

·         Received for information The Written Statement of Action (WSoA), together with the accompanying progress report, and endorsed this in order to deliver improvements and monitoring arrangements against the nine identified areas.