SEND Improvement Board chair's update 9 May 2025

Introduction

Hello and welcome to the first independent chair's update following the meeting of the SEND Improvement Board on 9 May 2025. The SEND Improvement Board has been set up following the Lancashire SEND Inspection in December 2024. Kathryn Boulton is the board’s independent chair appointed following the inspection. The board is made up of senior leaders from across the SEND Partnership, including NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), Lancashire County Council (LCC), education and health providers, together with members of the parent carer forum (PCF) and our SEND young advisor.

Since being appointed I have met with partnership leaders from the county council, NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB), together with the manager of the SEND Partnership, the co-chairs of the parent carer forum and the SEND young advisor to share my previous experience and what my role is, as independent chair.

Lancashire SEND Partnership co-produced the Priority Action Plan in response to the inspection report in February 2025. The plan considered the feedback received from all stakeholders and inspectors and was published on 1 April 2025. The plan sets out how the SEND Partnership will improve services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). It also details the expected impact of the actions (difference made), the key measures of what success looks like, and how the SEND Improvement Board will monitor evidence to make sure sufficient progress and positive change is made to children and young people with SEND and their families.

This was the first SEND Improvement Board meeting; therefore, it was important to discuss and agree our terms of reference, membership and principles.

Terms of reference and membership principles

The expectations of board members, and the purpose of the SEND Improvement Board were introduced and explained. We discussed the importance of partnership working, co-production and shared accountability. Decision making, escalation mechanisms and a risk register were highlighted as important, and I emphasised that it was my responsibility to hold the partnership to account. We agreed that we need to challenge and support each other, driving progress to make a positive difference for our children and families.

It was emphasised that the parent carer forum is a strategic partner and have an equal voice, and together with children and young people will be the barometer for improvements made. I welcomed Olly to the meeting, acknowledging his role as SEND young advisor and representative of POWAR SEND youth forum, inviting him to share an update.

SEND youth forum update

Olly shared that POWAR had recently increased its numbers. There is currently a weekly SEND participation group meeting at Preston and Burnley. Olly stressed the importance that children and young people are given the opportunity to have their voice heard, particularly in schools and to ensure this was consistent across the county.

A productive discussion resulted, exploring the ways that child voice could be captured, in all schools through their school councils and that all children with SEND needed a wider voice. There was also acknowledgement that not all children and young people feel confident participating in school council's or don’t always get the opportunity to do so, therefore it was important that their voices were also captured through different approaches. The education representatives on the board agreed to link with Clare the youth participation lead, to further develop how all children and young people with SEND can have their voice heard.

Olly explained the importance of ensuring that children and young people are clear about the difference their voice has made and that this is fed back to them in a You said …We did format.

You Said …. all children with SEND needed a wider voice.

We did…. Clare will work with the education provider representatives to establish ways that children with SEND can have their voice heard and their views inform ongoing improvements.

Next on the agenda was an update from Michelle Pye and Miranda Hyman, co-chairs of the Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF).

Lancashire Parent Carer Forum update

Michelle and Miranda provided an update on Lancashire Parent Carer Forum (LPCF). They stepped up as co-chairs earlier this year. Michelle explained that they had spent the last few weeks engaging widely with parents and carers asking for feedback and involvement. The feedback received has been that better communication is a priority, particularly getting more timely responses to calls and emails. They also emphasised the importance of ensuring that support is available at the right time, and that education, health, care plan (EHCP) assessment and annual review timeliness improves.

Michelle highlighted the community engagement they have had through the round table support groups.

The Deaf community had shared that some deaf children are unable to access the curriculum in mainstream schools due to lack of BSL trained staff.
The Down Syndrome support group reported that although some children are cognitively able, they often were also unable to access mainstream schools.
Autism needed identifying earlier to ensure the children received the right support at the right time.
Families reported they need support, as well as their child, and they need to build trust and not feel blamed. Families need to feel heard and not to have to battle or fight for what support their children need.
There needs to be greater recognition of education other than at school (EOTAS) and alternative provision (AP) needs, particularly for children with pathological demand avoidance (PDA) profile.
Children with lesser-known conditions such as avoidant and restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) also need better support.

Michelle shared that the LPCF are hosting an online engagement event which replicates the face-to-face event they held in March, to engage more parent carers and improve communication channels. Regular updates are being added to their Facebook page and these are receiving positive feedback.

Board members welcomed how LPCF were meeting with families and supporting group leads, and discussed how the forum can be used to support how the partnership feedback how families voices are being heard, through the You Said…We Did format.

You Said … Children with lesser-known conditions such as avoidant and restrictive food intake disorder (ARFID) need better support.

We Did…. ICB will consider improved support for children and young people with ARFID and Speech and language through the Neurodivergent Pathway and will share some information for LPCF to share.

You Said…. Families report they sometimes need support for themselves as well as for their child, they need to build trust and not feel blamed.

We Did …. Public Health will work with LPCF regarding the 0-19 specification for Health Visiting and School Nursing, and how they can support families who have children with SEND.

You said…. Families need to feel heard and not to have to battle or fight for what support their children need by going to tribunal.

We did …. It was acknowledged that funding mechanisms need to support early intervention so a working group will explore improved processes for SEND support and early support.

Board members acknowledged that these issues are not just local to Lancashire, and the partnership is on a journey to get the system better at meeting the needs of children and families, it was also recognised that ordinarily available provision within all schools is crucial.

Good SENDCO support is key to supporting children to flourish within their local schools and must be offered in Lancashire to support them in meeting the needs of local children. Re-building the trust of parents and carers will take time, but with LPCF as the conduit (means) to make this happen, the SEND Partnership can improve communication and provide feedback.

Highlight Report from SEND Operations Board

Paul Turner, Director of Education, Culture and Skills at the county council and Vanessa Wilson, Director for Maternity, and Children's Services at the ICB presented the highlight report from the SEND Operations Board and shared progress on actions in the priority action plan. There has been positive progress against several actions, including:

Increasing the capacity of the SEND team and staff induction.
A draft educational capital plan and SEND strategy with engagement events being held in June.
Funding for the Neuro Developmental Pathway has been secured for this year.

Risks identified include:

Funding
Capacity
EHCP portal implementation
Data integration challenges

Performance and data

Dave Carr, Director of Policy, Commissioning and Children's Health and Peter Chapman, Associate Director for SEND and Complexities presented a summary of the developments towards the data dashboard for the county council and for the ICB. Dave discussed the development of a dashboard to track Key Performance Indicators (KPI's) and the importance of having a clear set of metrics to measure progress. Health data included timeliness for Neurodivergent (ND) Pathway, therapies and health advices. The aim is to integrate health provider data with the local authority dashboard by September 2025 and enable key themes to be analysed.

Quality assurance

Cerys Townend, Head of SEND and Inclusion presented an overview of correspondence and complaints data for consideration. Although complaints were reducing, they remained high and response rates where over the statutory timescales. Themes include delays in the statutory assessment process, communication and amendments following annual reviews. The importance of good communication is recognised, and there is a commitment to making the improvements required, so that families receive a better experience. Quality assurance framework should be shared with the board at a future meeting.

Risk registers and governance

The meeting identified that the risks and issues need to be clearly identified and that a unified risk register needs developing for the Improvement Board with clear processes for escalation from the board up to leaders, including a briefing with a position statement for board.

Communication

This chairs update will be produced after each board meeting together with minutes of the meeting and published on the local offer.

A full communications strategy will be developed, and a feedback mechanism for young person is also needed.

I hope this update is useful. We next meet as a board on 3 June 2025 in person.

If you are a parent carer and have any thoughts or comments, please share with the PCF by emailing chair@lancashireparentcarerforum.org

If you have a child / young person interested in POWAR participation group please contact Suliman Hussain at Suliman.hussain@lancashire.gov.uk

If you are a partner, please do feedback through your organisation. Also don’t forget to sign up to our SEND Newsletter if you’re not already receiving it.