All Change-Setting the Scene Brian Lamb OBE

Change is Coming Health Reforms-changes to the way health services are going to be commissioned, Any Qualified Provider, GP commissioning Changes to Education-growth of academies, free schools, delegation of Budgets Reform of the SEN System Personalisation of Services through better assessment, parental involvement and direct payments

What's the Green Paper trying to do? “I’d like us to implement a cultural revolution just like the one they’ve had in China……Like Chairman Mao, we’ve embarked on a Long March to reform our education system.” Michael Gove Secretary of State for Education Daily Telegraph 28th December 2010. “Some of the things we are recommending I would say are huge cultural changes, which will take time to implement.” Sarah Teather Select Committee 17th May 2011

Queens Speech/Next Steps Paper Replacing SEN statements and Learning Difficulty Assessments (for 16- to 25-year-olds) with a single 0-25 assessment process and Education, Health and Care Plan from 2014 Changing the School Based Definition-no more school action/school action plus A Statutory Duty to jointly commission services Requiring local authorities to publish a local offer showing the  support available to disabled children and young people and those with SEN, and their families Giving parents or young people with Education, Health and Care Plans the right to a personal budget Introducing mediation for disputes before Tribunal and trialling giving children the right to appeal if they are unhappy with their support Auxiliary Aids and Services as an individual right from September 2012 Roll out of Achievement for All

Deaf Children-the Outcomes Gap Over three quarters of deaf children (77%) are starting school having failed to achieve a good level of development in the early years foundation stage assessment. The gap between deaf children and children who have no identified SEN is widening the gap was 38 percentage points. In 2011, it was 40 percentage points. Over half of deaf children (55%) did not achieve the expected level for Key Stage 2 English and Maths, no change since 2010. Nearly two thirds (64%) of deaf children did not achieve the expected level for the 3 Rs at Key Stage 2. Nearly 2 in 5 (39.7%) of deaf children achieved 5 GCSEs (including English and Maths) at grades A* to C compared to 69.5% of children with no identified SEN. Since 2009, the proportion of deaf children achieving this GCSEs benchmark has jumped over 10 percentage points – from 29.4% in 2009 to 39.7% in 2011 but still lags far behind children without SEN.

Service Context NDCS report showed that; Specialist support services in many authorities are being reduced Access to social care services now set so high that for many these are emergency services Access to essential health services and support is often difficult

Parental Involvement Lamb Inquiry-Evaluation of Parental Involvement Projects. “Fundamental to success was the commitment of LAs to true, not tokenistic or paternalistic parental engagement and a clear aim to improve confidence and work collaboratively with parents.” “the specific focus was less important than the manner in which it was carried out, including the commitment of the LA and its engagement with parents.” Lamb Inquiry Evaluation

Challenges for Today How to make these changes work against a background of local authority financial restraint How to ensure that parents and children are put at the heart of the reforms How to ensure that access to specialist support is available How to ensure that parents “voice” is heard