Peter Landman reports from the latest council Cabinet meeting where improvements to services for children and young adults with special needs and disabilities were outlined.

The Council failed a recent inspection by Ofsted and so is required by law to issue a written statement on improvements. The Ofsted Inspection highlighted, in particular: delays and poor quality assessments; lack of user involvement; and not having arrangements in place for joint commissioning.

The Council SEND (Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) Team presented an investment and improvement report to the July meeting of Cabinet. This is an ambitious report as it aims for a redesign of the service.

To begin with, temporary extra funding of £300,000 was agreed to clear the backlog of assessments, and permanent extra funding of £629,000 was agreed for further developments.

The main aims are:

• To Improve the situation on Assessments: to this end the service will increase the numbers of Special Education Needs Case Workers, and Educational Psychologists; and promote the Tools for Schools best practice guidance.

• To Lessen the number of costly Out of Borough Placements: the Service will increase the number of placement support officers to make last ditch attempts to avoid placing special needs children and young adults outside of Newham

• To make transition to young adulthood smoother: the Service will create more Education, Employment and Training Practitioner Posts.

• To develop User Involvement: the service will create a Co-Production Lead position, in particular to work more closely with the Newham

Parent Carer Forum and the Youth Empowerment Service.

If you wish to know more, or offer views and experiences contact tim.aldridge@newham.gov.uk

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