ITEM CA13 CABINET – 20 JUNE
A REVIEW OF THE FIRST YEAR OF DELEGATING
THE STATEMENTING BUDGET
Report by
Interim Director for Children, Young People & Families
Introduction
1.
Further delegation of the statementing budget was implemented in April 2006. The delegation scheme used the existing SEN
Index formula to allocate:
-
All of the statementing budget to secondary schools.
-
Funding equivalent to the first 15 hours per
week of teaching assistant support to most primary schools.
-
Funding equivalent to the first 5 hours per
week of teaching assistant support for the hundred
primary schools with the smallest whole school budgets.
2.
Work has also been carried out to allow the
hundred ‘small’ primary schools to apply for up to 15 hours of provision
without using the statementing process. The intention
being to further reduce school and central bureaucracy.
3.
The introduction of the new scheme has been
phased over two years. A further detailed report will be submitted to the
Cabinet in autumn 2007 to allow decisions to be made in advance of the April
2008 budget cycle.
Monitoring
4.
The delegation working group, with
representative headteachers from primary and
secondary schools, Oxfordshire Governors Association, Senior Educational
Psychologist, Inclusion Consultant, Parent Partnership, Head of SENSS and
Service Manager (SEN, Lead) has continued to meet to monitor the impact of
delegation, both at school and local authority levels.
Impact
and Effect on the Local Authority as a Whole
5.
A range of SEN data is provided in Annex 1 (download as .doc file) to illustrate the impact of delegation. This includes the numbers of statements
and new assessments, requests for additional funding from small schools,
central staffing costs and a range of SEN performance measures.
Key
features from the data:
·
The number of new requests for statutory
assessments has fallen by approximately 50%.
·
The overall number of statements is falling.
There was a reduction of 113 in January 2007 compared with the previous year.
It is likely that the total number of statements, currently 2,427, (given a
full year effect of delegation) will reduce by approximately 150 each year, (6%
per year).
·
There have been 39 requests for additional
funding for children from small schools and early years settings, costing
almost £35,000 in total.
·
Central staffing costs have decreased by
approximately 4%. (approximately
£54,000)
·
Tribunals remain low compared with national
figures. From March 2006 to April 2007 the total was the lowest for three years
and almost halved last year’s total. This is an indication of parental satisfaction in SEN provision. There
has not been an increase in the number of tribunals due to refusal to assess.
·
Achievement levels (based on key stage 4
outcomes) continue to improve.
Impact
on Individual Schools
6.
Some of the issues discussed at the
delegation working group meetings are set out below:
·
Fewer concerns from parents than
anticipated.
·
Some initial anxiety by school staff and
governors.
·
Some complaints about form filling, others
recognising it has been reduced.
·
Some complaints from parents where schools
have been unwelcoming due to the funding implications to support a child with SEN, the
monitoring group was very concerned to hear this and were concerned by the lack
of awareness by schools and governors of the Disability Discrimination Act.
·
SENCos were insufficiently aware of the funding allocated to the school for SEN.
·
Requests for training is increasing, from
assessing individual children to whole school INSET.
·
More work is taking place on provision
mapping (planning and monitoring SEN provision). This can help to improve the
planning and monitoring of SEN provision to ensure that a range of effective
interventions are delivered.
·
There was positive feedback for the
Inclusion data provided for each school (part of the Annual Inclusion
Audit). It will also be helpful for
governors but will need interpreting carefully. (see page 3 for more information on the Annual Inclusion Audit).
Concerns
Raised by Individual Schools
7.
Approximately a dozen schools have contacted
the LA during the year about the new scheme of delegation. Issues raised
include:
·
Mid year arrivals requiring high levels of
support.
·
No reserves for unexpected children.
·
Not enough funding to meet the needs of children
with SEN.
·
Delays in receiving funding for children
with statements.
·
Exceptionally high levels of SEN.
·
New schools receiving disproportionately
high numbers of children with SEN.
·
Concern that the reduced number of children
with Statements will skew the self-evaluation form (SEF) return.
·
Concern that SEN funding is absorbed within
the whole school pot and is insufficiently allocated for children with SEN.
·
A small school asking to be included in the
higher threshold level of delegation (15 hours and not 5).
·
Significantly higher number of pupils with
statements arriving in September compared with summer leavers (secondary
school.
Exceptional
Circumstances
8.
Part of the
Cabinet’s recommendation was to provide exceptional arrangements for the
hundred primary schools with the smallest whole school budgets and other
exceptional circumstances and to retain a contingency fund for exceptional
arrangements. A small group, including headteachers,
met to define exceptions. The work was presented to Schools Forum and the rules
for exceptions agreed. Three schools qualified for additional funding,
amounting to approximately £20,000 in total.
9.
The
contingency fund held for 2006/07 to cover additional hours for pupils in
‘small primary schools’ and for schools with exceptional circumstances totaled
£116,808 (of which £30,000 was estimated for schools with exceptional
circumstances).
Introduction
of the Annual Inclusion Audit
10.
Reducing the reliance on statements required
further strengthening of SEN monitoring and accountability. Annual inclusion
monitoring has been fully introduced this year, following a pilot scheme last
year. The LA analyses a range of inclusion data on each school to identify
those where there may be some issues to be addressed. The data is presented as
a School Inclusion Profile and contains information on funding, levels of need
and achievement data for all vulnerable groups. A copy is sent to schools
annually in November. Support is then given to schools in the form of a brief
contact or visit, a partial or full Inclusion Audit (supported self-evaluation
of SEN or other area of inclusion). In addition, the highly regarded SEN
Development Programme, (supported self-evaluation process) continues to operate
on a three yearly cycle and covers all mainstream schools.
Conclusion
11.
A full report will be presented to Schools
Forum and Cabinet in autumn 2007, to allow any amendments to be made from April
2008. However, at this stage, the scheme appears to be achieving its objectives
of reducing bureaucracy and allowing schools to manage their resources for SEN
in the most appropriate way.
RECOMMENDATION
12.
The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED to:
(a)
endorse the continued implementation of the
delegation scheme as described within the report;
(b)
seek the views of the Schools Forum on the
scheme as monitored hitherto;
(c)
request a further report to Cabinet in the
autumn, in time for any changes for April 2008; and
(d)
instruct the Director for Children, Young People & Families to re-distribute savings
from central SEN staffing to schools.
JIM CROOK
Interim
Director for Children, Young People & Families.
Background
papers: Nil
Contact Officer: Janet Johnson, Service Manager, (SEN, Lead) Children, Young People & Faminles, Tel: 01865 815129
June
2007
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