"Last week we received a response from Ofsted to our draft Written Statement of Action that we submitted to them towards the end of August. They have said they would like us to do some further work to develop it, particularly being more detailed about some of the activity we're planning and the timescales for delivering them. We're taking that on board and will have a plan submitted by 8 October. This doesn't give us much time, but we are committed to engaging with parents/carers on the revised plan (there's more about this later in this newsletter). It's important we get this right as its the bedrock for the whole programme.

"I am excited about the work around engaging with all parents/carers that is being developed by the Co-production and Engagement Working Group. I hope there'll be some opportunities very soon to get out and about in the county to meet with people and discuss how we can move things forward. 

"As ever, please let us know if you'd like any additional information about any aspect of the programme."

Dan Barton, Assistant Director - Education & Skills at Cumbria County Council and lead officer for the SEND Improvement Programme

Keep up to date with the Cumbria SEND Improvement Programme

To keep up to date with the latest, get involved and access more detailed information sign up to receive future editions of this e-newsletter.

We have also created pages on the Local Offer website to hold all the information about the programme so that it is accessible to all.

• Read the 23 August eNewsletter
• Read the 13 September update

The first requirement by Ofsted/CQC following their inspection, was for the three lead agencies to produce a plan, the Written Statement of Action, which sets out how we will respond to the recommendations made in the inspection report. The draft WSoA was submitted to the Department for Education on 21 August.

On 10 September Ofsted provided feedback and they now expect us to carry out further work to revise and develop the plan. A revised plan must be submitted to Ofsted by 8 October. 

• You can read Ofsted's feedback here
• You can read the original draft Written Statement of Action here

Involving parents and carers

In developing the original Written Statement of Action parents/carers were critical of their level of involvement. We have acknowledged this and want to ensure that parents/carers have opportunity to contribute to the revised version of the Written Statement of Action. 

To try and ensure parents/carers can contribute meaningfully, the approach below has been agreed by the Engagement and Co-production Working Group in discussion with its two lead parent/carer representatives:

• Reference Group members (see story below) have been invited to provide feedback on the WSoA as it is now, taking account of Ofsted’s feedback by 27 September.
• In each Working Group the four parent/carer representatives have been invited to work with each other to review the specific actions for their Working Group in the current WSoA, and provide feedback to the Chair of their Working Group by 27 September.
• A meeting of all Working Group Chairs will be held in week commencing 30 September to review progress with the updated plan. The two Improvement Board parent/carer representatives have been invited to attend that meeting, along with Shirley Murphy as Chair of Cumbria Parent Care Forum.
• At the Reference Group development session on 4 October in Kendal the revised draft WSoA will be shared with the group. By this time only minor amendments will be possible in order to be able to meet Ofsted’s deadline of 8 October.

It is the view of the SEND Improvement Board that broadly the actions in the WSoA are the right actions, but that more work is needed to provide detail and clarity on how improvement will be measured and the timescales we are working to. So this is not about a complete rewrite of the plan but developing what we have.

The revised draft Written Statement of Action will be shared widely once it has been submitted to Ofsted.

In August there was an open invitation to parents/carers to express an interest in getting directly involved with the six Working Groups that are delivering the SEND Improvement Programme. 44 parents/carers put their names forward.

Following a process agreed with those parent/carers at a meeting on 16 August, 24 people were selected to become part of the six Working Groups, four per group. While only two are expected to attend any particular meeting, having four representatives means hopefully there should always be someone available to attend. All four are welcome to attend the Working Group should they wish. The representatives for each group are listed in the table below.

All parent/carer Working Group representatives and the parents/carers who were not selected are also now part of a wider SEND Improvement Programme Parent/Carer Reference Group who will be used as a 'sounding board' and sense-checker for the programme. This is all in addition to the wider programme of engagement and co-production with parent/carers that is being developed.

Feedback so far

Representatives have now attended some of the Working Group meetings and have provided feedback on their experiences. This has been mixed, with some positives but also areas where we need to work differently to ensure parent/carer representatives are able to contribute fully. This is a priority for us and all Working Group Chairs are meeting to agree a consistent approach.

4 October, 10am- 2pm, Kendal

The SEND Improvement Programme Parent/Carer Reference Group will be holding a half-day development session on 4 October.

As well as discussing progress so far and next steps, at the meeting there will be a Q&A session with the Independent Chair of the Improvement Board Linda Clegg and senior representatives from Cumbria County Council and local NHS.

There is an open invitation to any other parents/carers to join the Reference Group. To register your interest please complete the online form:

• Reference Group Expression of Interest Form

One of the first big pieces of work that is planned for the SEND Improvement Programme is to carry out a survey of parents/carers about the experiences they and their children have had of SEND services in Cumbria.

It is important to stress that this is just one part of the plan to engage with parents/carers and we know its is the face to face conversations that can often be most valuable.

Because Cumbria County Council have address details for parent/carers with a child with an EHCP (around 3000 people) we are able to send a questionnaire in the post. For children who receive SEN Support address details are not held centrally, so we will be using an online survey and working through schools and networks to distribute the survey and gather the views of these parent/carers.

This will happen during November.

The questionnaire will be developed with the parent/carers on the Reference Group and will help us establish how things are now, and give us a baseline against which we can measure ourselves in future. This will help us see if the SEND Improvement Programme is making a difference.

To make sure we get an accurate picture of how things are it is important that parent/carers complete and return the questionnaire. If only a small number do so then the information it provides will not be representative.

There will be more information about the surveys in the next eNewsletter.

Young People's SEND Forums getting going

Young people with SEND are getting involved in local forums organised by Cumbria County Council to have their say on issues that affect them.

There are 3 forums that meet twice a year in their local area and annual countywide meeting. The groups have been running for just a few months and there have been about 30 young people involved so far countywide. So far they have discussed what is working well, what is not working so well and what they would like to change.  Carlisle and Eden have just set their priorities and will begin working on them properly at the end of the year. The next round of local meetings are in November.

This year's countywide meeting is being held in Penrith on 27 September.

• View invitation to 27 September event 

+ FOR FURTHER INFORMATION: liz.wright@cumbria.gov.uk

• Register for the event

+ FOR MORE INFORMATION: alison.may@morecambebayccg.nhs.uk

Feedback requested on co-production resources

People First’s Co-production group has created some helpful easy-read co-production guides which have been added to the Coproduction Toolkit developed by NHS North Cumbria Clinical Commissioning Group and Healthwatch Cumbria.

The straightforward easy-read guide and plan template is available to anyone involved in co-production activity in any setting. The CCG is asking for feedback on the materials from parents/carers.

• View co-production guide
• View co-production plan template
• More information about co-production at the CCG

+ PROVIDE FEEDBACK TO: harry.harrison@northcumbriaccg.nhs.uk