To receive a report from Neil Best, Head of Strategic Resourcing & Partnerships - Education and Barbara Thurogood, Head of SEN.

RECEIVED the report of Neil Best, Head of Strategic Resourcing & Partnerships and Barbara Thurogood, Head of Special Educational Needs. Neil highlighted the following key points:

1.    The report provided an update on special education need placements, current pressures, and activities to increase the number of places within Enfield and to reduce out of borough expenditure.

2.    Details were also provided of current and projected demand for special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) places, current provision both in-borough and out-of-borough and the related costs to the Council.

3.    There had been a significant increase in SEND provision during recent years with Enfield Council putting in extra resources and commissioning designated units within mainstream schools. But because of limited capacity to extend existing schools, the council had decided to establish new facilities

4.    The Council had almost “maxed out” in terms of large SEND schools in the borough and there was a huge demand on the ‘high needs’ element of the dedicated schools grant – provided by the government to support schools- and it was currently £13 m in deficit.

5.    The number of pupils with an education health and care plan (EHCP) – which provide extra support for SEND pupils- is expected to grow by 10% over three years.

6.    Currently 468 young people with SEND are being educated in other boroughs, costing the council around £14,000 extra per pupil compared with in-borough schooling. This can lead to young people being separated from their communities and experiencing longer journey times, along with added costs for travel assistance.

7.    Two priority sites in Enfield have been identified to provide 136 extra school places for children with special education needs and disabilities (SEND). Portcullis Lodge Car Park in Enfield Town and Addison House in Southgate have been classed as ‘priority sites’ to help meet the growing demand for SEND provision.

8.    The Council has applied to the Department for Education (DfE) Free School Wave 2022 to have the two priority sites included, which would see the government provide funding if the projects are delivered in partnership with free school providers. The Council will find out next April if it has been successful.

9.    Alongside this the SEN Service has been developing small scale additional SEND provision within mainstream schools where specialist assistance is provided to pupils within their setting.

In response members commented as follows:

1.  Cllr Thorpe said that the acceleration of the Council’s SEND Development Programme would lead to a “step change” in the number of available places and he was incredibly disappointed by the decision to pull the paper from a Cabinet meeting held last month. The withdrawn report sought Cabinet approval to establish new SEND provision at Portcullis Lodge and Addison House, with £1.6m needed to progress development work.

2.  Officers acknowledged the decision would delay the opening of a new school but assured Members that, having established the programme, this would not be “kicked into the long grass”. However, the other thing in terms of delay that was important right now was the cost of delivery as construction costs have gone up and up and were not likely to reduce.

3.  In response to Members’ concerns regarding the predicted growth locally in Education Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), Officers advised that the number of children with EHCPs has been increasing nationally since the commencement of the 2014 reforms. This is partially due to the extension of the age group from 18 to 25. The SEN service has reviewed its operational delivery including its SEN Panel where decisions for Education, Health & Care Needs Assessments (EHCNA) and decisions to issue an EHCP are made. The new changes have resulted in 23% fewer needs assessments undertaken and 10% less ECHPs have been issued.

4.  Officers added that a lot of guidance has also been issued to schools to assist in identifying the needs of children and young people earlier and the development of Early intervention models, such as Enfield Community Advisory Support (ECAS) has meant that there is an offer to support children and young people with communication needs to prevent the need for an EHCP.

5.  SEN are holding a Speech and Language Summit with health to make certain that there is a credible offer to meet the speech and language needs of the community and to ensure that children do not need an EHCP to access speech and language provision from health.

The Chair thanked Officers for their updates and the reports which were well focused and easy to follow.

The meeting ended at 8:40pm