Agenda and minutes

The minutes of the meeting of the Children and Young People’s Learning Scrutiny Panel held on 21 February 2022 were submitted and approved as a correct record.

Officers will be in attendance to provide evidence in respect of the increasing demands across the Local Area, including details/information on:

·        the pressures across Education, Health and Social Care with regards to children and young people with SEND and those at risk of exclusion;

·        mitigation; and

·        future pressures.

The Council’s Head of Inclusion, Assessment and Review; the Head of Resources for the Inclusion and Specialist Support Service (ISSS) and the Head of Service for Children with Disabilities were in attendance to provide evidence in respect of the increasing demands across the Local Area.

Information was presented to the scrutiny panel that detailed:

·         the pressures across education, health and social care with regards to children and young people with SEND and those at risk of exclusion;

·         the mitigation measures and strategies that had been introduced/implemented;

·         the wider system impacts; and

·         future pressures.

The Head of Inclusion, Assessment and Review advised that work was regularly undertaken with schools. It was commented that, given the increasing demand in the local area, schools and settings were under pressure to meet the needs of children and young people with SEND and those who were at risk of exclusion. Schools were experiencing high levels of Covid-19 infection rates, which was causing a high level of staff absence and impacting on the key training and development of staff members. It was added that schools were experiencing children across all year groups who were struggling due to the impact of the pandemic.

Schools had experienced pressures due to the lack of families accessing universal health services during lockdowns, such the School Nursing Service and Health Visiting Service. As a result, some children’s needs had not been identified and addressed prior to them starting school.

There had been an increase in demand for the Local Authority’s Inclusion and Outreach Model. In addition, sufficiency issues had been encountered for children with SEND and for those who had been excluded. There was an unpredictable demand for school places for children with SEND and schools were struggling to manage and meet the needs of those children within the school setting.

In order to manage the increasing demand, the following mitigation measures were outlined:

·         The Local Authority was challenging and supporting schools to reduce the number of exclusions, which was currently a key area of focus for the organisation.

·         A specialist project had been set up with two secondary schools, in partnership with key agencies, such as Cleveland Police and colleagues across Children’s Services. The project planned to focus on those children who were known to multiple services, with an aim to understand how services were coordinated and delivered to support the child or young person and their family. The work planned to ensure that the needs of the child or young person were met and seamless support was being provided.

·         The Local Authority had been working to develop a training offer for schools, to upskill staff members and enable them to meet the needs of children. The training package included the Education, Health and Care Assessment (EHCA) process and information on accessing additional resources and funding.

·         The Local Authority was working in partnership with health services to resolve the issues regarding access to universal services and some specialist services.

·         The enhanced Inclusion and Outreach Model was introduced in January 2022.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 21/51

The Chair will present a verbal update on the matters that were considered at the meeting of the Overview and Scrutiny Board held on 22 February 2022.

The Chair advised that on 22 February 2022, the Overview and Scrutiny Board had considered:

·         the Executive Forward Work Programme;

·         an update from the Executive Member for Culture and Communities;

·         an update from the Chief Executive;

·         updates from the Scrutiny Chairs;

·         the Revenue and Capital Budget - Projected Outturn position as at Quarter Three 2021/22; and

·         the Corporate Performance Update at Quarter Three 2021/22.

NOTED