Draft priority action plan for children with special educational needs and disabilities submitted

On Tuesday 24 October, the Oxfordshire local area partnership submitted a draft priority action plan to the Department for Education (DfE) to address urgent action required to improve the support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

This follows Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission’s local area partnership inspection of SEND services in July.

The local area partnership members include Oxfordshire County Council, NHS Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire West Integrated Care Board (BOB ICB), Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust. They have been working together with the county’s parent carer forum (PCF), as the official body for the voice of parent carers, and professional subject matter leads, to develop the priority action plan detailing clear and measurable service improvements.

Ofsted will provide feedback on the draft plan within 70 days of the report submission date. After this point, the report will be finalised. However, action to deliver and implement improvements has already begun.

Today (16 November), the DfE has published an improvement notice that has been issued to the county council. This is an official document sent to councils following inspections that have similar outcomes, outlining the steps needed to evidence progress in the improvement of services. 

The partnership has committed to continual dialogue with families, children and young people and professionals, and will hold a variety of mid-term information gathering and sharing sessions (online and in-person), including in educational settings, to gather feedback. This will be supported by existing meetings with the parent carer forum and other parent and carer support groups.