SCRUTINY OF THE INTEGRATED PLAN PROPOSALS 2013/14 - 2014/15:
INFORMATION REQUESTS
That Members be advised how the County Council is engaging with parents of SEN pupils and with national societies working to represent these stakeholders.
The County Council engages with parents and carers of children with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) in a number of ways. Parental
partnership is a key requirement of the legislative framework in relation to SEND and the Council engages with parents in respect of meeting the needs of individual children, particularly those with more significant needs where a statutory assessment is required.
The County Council also engages with parents more strategically on SEND issues involving them in service planning and decision making so that services meet the needs of families with children with SEND. The conduit for this engagement is throughHerts Parent Carer Involvement (HPCI), a constituted voluntary organisation run by parent carers. There is a county wide steering group including parent carers, Local Authority (LA), NHS and voluntary organisations. HPCI links with other parent carer networks locally and regionally and is supported by Contact a Family an d the National Network Parent Carer Forum.
Working with the HPCI the County Council is engaging parents with a number of key SEND developments:
· Developing Special Provision Locally (DSPL). There is a DSPL Parents Reference group which meets every 6 weeks to oversee the parental involvement in DSPL. Parents are also represented on the overarching DSPL Steering Group and there are 2 parent carer members on each of the 9 DSPL Area Groups where they contribute alongside headteachers, providers and officers to the development of services and provision for SEND locally. Parents have also been involved in the Keeping Children in Local Provision workstream with a focus on reducing reliance on out of authority independent provision, including the plans to develop a parent to parent mentor scheme. The Council has involved organisations such as the National Autistic Society in its DSPL developments eg to provide accredited training to special schools.
· SEND Pathfinder. Parents have been involved from the start on the Pathfinder Programme Management Board and all the workstreams including the development of the new single plan, personal budgets, preparing for adulthood and the Local Offer. There is a separate workstream led by parents to ensure effective parental participation. Voluntary organisations that support parents are also included in the management and delivery arrangements for the pathfinder.
· Short breaks review HPCI supported a survey of parents and facilitated events to discuss the short breaks review. Parents have been involved in individual interviews to access views on the services received. This builds on previous parental involvement in Aiming High for Disabled Children, a national initiative to improve services for disabled children, including short breaks.
The County Council also provides an impartial Parent Partnership Service. This includes a manager and 4 area advisers. There service runs a helpline for parents and provides support to individual parents of children and young people with SEND. The service also manages the HAND (Hertfordshire Additional Needs Database) where parent carers who register receive information and advice.
The County Council also commissions an independent mediation service, run by KIDS (a charity) to resolve disagreements between individual parent carers and schools and/or the LA.