Agenda and minutes

County Councillor P Malpas replaced County Councillor K Brown

County Councillor T Winder replaced County Councillor S Derwent

County Councillor S Chapman replaced County Councillor S Fishwick

County Councillor C Coates replaced County Councillor S Riches

Apologies for absence were received from County Councillor Mrs Case and Mr F Kershaw (Coopted Member representing CE schools)

The Committee is asked to note the appointment by the full County Council on the 26^th May 2011 of County Councillor C Grunshaw as the Chair of the Committee for 2011/12.

Resolved: That the appointment by full County Council on the 26^th May 2011 of County Councillor C Grunshaw as Chair of the Committee be noted.

The Committee is asked to note the appointment by the full County Council on the 26^th May 2011 of County Councillor Mrs P Case as the Deputy Chair of the Committee for 2011/12.

Resolved: That the appointment by the full County Council on the 26^th May 2011 of County Councillor Mrs Case as Deputy Chair of the Committee be noted.

The Committee received a report regarding the above and was informed that in May the full County Council had agreed the constitution of the Committee on the basis of 16 County Councillors plus 5 voting Coopted members and the following County Councillors/Coopted members had been nominated to serve on the Committee:

Mr T Charnock – Representing RC Schools

Mr F Kershaw - Representing CE Schools

Mr K Wales - Representing Free Church Schools

Mrs J Hamid - Representing Parent Governors (Secondary)

Mr J Withington - Representing Parent Governors (Primary)

Resolved:

1.  That the current membership of the Committee as set out above be noted.

2.  That the Terms of Reference of the Committee as set out below be noted.

1.  To review decisions made, or other action taken, in connection with the discharge of any relevant functions undertaken by the Cabinet collectively, or the relevant Cabinet Members or Cabinet Committee.

2.  To make reports or recommendations to the Full Council, the Cabinet or the relevant Cabinet Members or Cabinet Committee with respect to the discharge of any functions undertaken by the Cabinet collectively or the relevant Cabinet Members or Cabinet Committee.

3.  In reviewing decisions (other than decisions designated as urgent under Standing Order 34(3)) made in connection with the discharge of any relevant functions undertaken by the Cabinet collectively or the relevant Cabinet Members or Cabinet Committee, but which have not been implemented, the Committee may recommend that the decision be reconsidered by the person who made it or to refer the decision to the Full Council for it to decide whether it wishes it to be reconsidered by the decision taker.

4.  To consider at its discretion as appropriate Forward Plans prepared by the Leader with a view to determining which, if any, of the proposed decisions it wishes to scrutinise.

5.  To hold general policy reviews and to assist in the development of future policies and strategies (whether requested by the Full Council, the Cabinet, the relevant Cabinet Members, Cabinet Committee or decided by the Committee itself) and, after consulting with any appropriate interested parties, to make recommendations to either the Cabinet, the relevant Cabinet Members, Cabinet Committee or to the Full Council as appropriate.

6.  To fulfil all the statutory functions of an Overview and Scrutiny Committee as they relate to education functions of a Children’s Services Authority

7.  To undertake reviews (whether requested by the Full Council, the Cabinet, the relevant Cabinet Members, Cabinet Committee or decided by the Committee itself) and make recommendations to the Full Council, the Cabinet, Cabinet committee or the relevant Cabinet Members, as appropriate, on relevant services or activities carried out by external organisations which affect Lancashire or its inhabitants.

8.  To consider any relevant matter referred to the Committee by the Scrutiny Committee following a request  ...  view the full minutes text for item 3.

Members are asked to consider any Personal/Prejudicial Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

County Councillor Wells declared a personal non-prejudicial interest in relation to item 6 on the agenda as he is an employee within the Special Educational Needs Department of a United Learning Trust School (Accrington Academy).

Resolved: That the Minutes of the meeting held on the 15^th March 2011 be confirmed as an accurate record and signed by the Chair.

 The Chair welcomed Sally Riley, the Head of Inclusion and Disability Support and Mr Stott, Director for Universal and Prevention Services to the meeting.

Ms Riley gave a detailed presentation on the implications of the SEND Green Paper to the Committee, a copy of which is attached to these Minutes as an Annex and identified the following key points:

·  Around two million children and young people are identified as having a special education need or disability (SEND) which is equivalent to 1% of the education population nationally and internationally.

·  The life outcomes for those young people (compared to those without SEND) are disproportionately poor with them being seven times more likely to be excluded from school than non disabled young people.

·  Post-16, young people with SEND are more than twice as likely not to be in education, employment or training as those without and that situation is worsening

·  Young people with SEND can feel frustrated by a lack of the right help at school and from other services. Often the response would be to allocate some form of one to one support and whilst that could be the right approach in some cases in others it may be viewed as being restrictive and isolating for the young person concerned. Instead support provided across a range of services was considered to be the better option in the majority of cases.

·  The need for support is sometimes identified late either due to diagnosis, though this was less likely in Lancashire due to the early intervention strategies which had been introduced.

·  Parents often feel that the current system is bureaucratic and adversarial and the Parent Carer Forum had been a useful means of identifying problem areas. It was noted that in some cases the difficulties arose out of the complex nature of the legislation associated with SEND.

·  Parents also feel they have limited choices about the best schools and care available and having expressing a preference for a particular school they may not be made to feel welcome.

Ms Riley also outlined the proposals within each of the five chapters in the Green Paper and drew attention to any associated work which was already underway within the County.

1.  Early Identification and Assessment.

·  Lancashire has a good record of early identification and assessment with 3.1 years being the average age of children identified as having some form of SEN which was well above the national average.

·  The proposed reformed assessment process would involve a single multi-agency approach and produce an ‘Education, Health and Care Plan’ for children/young people aged 0-25, which would focus on positive outcomes and give parents the same statutory protection as the more process driven Statement of SEN which it would replace. However, there was concern about a lack of clarity as to the intended position with regard to funding for young people aged 19-25.

·  It was intended to speed up the process in relation to statutory assessments which was currently 26 weeks. Ms Riley informed the Committee that  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency.  Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member’s intention to raise a matter under this heading.

There were no items of urgent business presented for consideration at the meeting.

As the meeting previously scheduled for the 12^th July was brought forward the next meeting of the Committee will now be held at 10.00am on the 1^st November 2011 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next scheduled meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on the 1^st November 2011 in Cabinet Room 'C' at County Hall, Preston.