Alison Ismail, Director, Special Educational Needs and Disability and Alternative Provision, Department for Education – Supplementary written evidence (YDP0002)

Thank you for the opportunity to address the Public Services Committee on Wednesday 7 June on the subject of access to public services for young disabled children. As requested by the panel, I am writing in regard to the further questions put by Committee members.

Having reviewed the transcript in full and made a very few small changes, I am content that the attached version accurately reflects our conversation. When I noted that Claire Coutinho MP, Minister for Children, Families and Wellbeing was “very energetic in working with your Minister” (Q6), I was referring to Tom Pursglove MP, Minister for Disabled People, Health and Work.

You asked me to set out some further information on the area inspection framework being implemented, and how it takes account of young people who need specialist support.

In May 2016, a five-year programme of Area SEND inspection began, to assess how effectively local areas are meeting their responsibilities and the impact they are having on the lives of children, young people with SEND, and their families. The programme of full inspections was completed in April 2022, with revisits concluding in December 2022.The aim of the programme was to assess how well local areas were implementing the reforms introduced by the Children and Families Act 2014, and the extent to which they were meeting their responsibilities towards children and young people (CYP) with SEND.

In 2020, the Department for Education, with the support of Department of Health Social Care, then commissioned Ofsted and CQC to develop a new area SEND inspection framework to operate from early 2023.

During the summer 2022, over 800 children and young people told Ofsted and CQC what they thought about some new ideas for area SEND inspections. The answers children and young people gave to the consultation were taken into account when writing the inspection framework and handbook.

This new inspection framework’s aims were to:

•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Ensure no accountability gap between inspection frameworks.
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Include a greater focus on the experience of CYP with SEND and their families.
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Give more prominence to the quality integration and commissioning of education, health and care services.
•                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                           Include evaluation of Alternative Provision commissioning

We have worked with Ofsted and CQC to design and launch this new Local Area SEND Inspection Framework.

Since launching in January 2023, 11 inspections have been conducted, with 6 inspection reports published. These have identified a range of strengths, and areas for improvement, in the local areas. 

You also asked me to share figures on the number of young people with a disability who do not have an EHC plan but who would be entitled to have one. Unfortunately, although the Department for Education does have data on the numbers of children with EHC plans, it does not, however, collect figures separately for the number of children and young people who have a disability.

The SEN legislation in the Children and Families Act 2014 is clear that an EHC plan may be necessary for a child or young person whose disability requires special educational provision to be made for them that is additional to, or different from, that made generally for others of the same age in mainstream schools. A child’s parent, or a young person or a person acting on behalf of a school or post-16 institution is entitled to make a request for an EHC needs assessment, if they feel that the child or young person with a disability should be entitled to a plan.

As the committee noted, the deadline for amending a young person’s EHC plan for a transfer from secondary school to a post-16 institution is 31st March. Unfortunately, we do not collect data on LA performance on this measure.

Thank you again for the opportunity to provide evidence on behalf of the Department for Education at the session.

I hope this response has been useful.

I am copying to my Disability Unit colleagues,

27 June 2023

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