To receive a response from the Executive.

The Executive Member for Children’s services gave a brief introduction to the report that had been circulated to the give the Committee opportunity to ask questions. The Executive Member for Children’s Services apologised for the time it had taken for the response to come to the Committee. The Trask and finish report originally came to the executive in September 2019 with an original response ready by February 2020 but due to COVID 19 that had been delayed until now. The Executive Member for Children’s Services thanked the group who created the report for bringing their findings to the Executive’s attention. The Committee were informed that there had been a large number of improvements since the report was made and the Executive supported the additional work to be done by the Task and finish group as outlined in the report.

Councillor Thompson welcomed the Council’s commitment to looking at the quality as well as the quantity of the EHCPs. Councillor Thompson asked how they would ensure that the random sample provided to the Task and Finish group was random and representative and whether the sample would be anonymised or if permission would be sought to provide names in line with GDPR.

The Executive Member for Children’s Services responded that the request was for anonymised plans and the service had agreed to share them with the Task and Finish Group as long as it met GDPR requirements. The Executive Member for Children’s Services welcomed the Committee reviewing the plans to provide additional assurance as to their quality. The detail of how the plans would be selected and shared had not been worked out yet but it would be agreed between the Task and Finish group and officers. Councillor Western added that the group would be happy receiving an anonymised sample containing both highly detailed plans and low detailed plans. The Task and Finish group would also like to see the outcomes from the EHCPS. The Corporate Director of Governance and Community Strategy Added that for the quality assurance it would normally be anonymised unless there was a reason that having the names would aid in providing assurance.

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services stated providing assurance was a complex question. It was part of the EHCP manager’s job to review the plans on a regular basis and the Director of Children’s Services supported the task and finish group in providing additional assurance.  However, the service was looking at providing external assurance through a multi-agency response. The Executive Member for Children’s Services informed the Committee that the data could be randomised by taking a random sample of cases using the case ID number.

Councillor Dillon asked about section 2.5 around the legal test that was done and the anxiety of parents whose children were in years 6 and 7 when applying for support for their children. The Executive Member for Children’s services responded that there was not anyone at the meeting who could provide an answer to that question but that an answer could be provided after the meeting.

The Chair added that the monitoring of the performance was something that scrutiny would be interested in receiving.

Councillor Western asked whether the system was robust enough to deal with an influx of applications that may come in as children go back to school.

The Corporate Director of Children’s Services responded that the Council had tried as best as possible to continue business as usual and so it was hoped that there would not be a large influx when the schools went back after summer. However, the Council had conducted a surge planning exercise to ensure that additional resources would be available if needed.

RESOLVED:

1)    That the response be noted.

2)    That a response to Councillor Dillon’s question be provided after the meeting.

3)    That Scrutiny is to receive performance monitoring updates around EHCPs going forward.