Decision details

The amendment by Councillor Reeves was accepted by the proposer.

The motion as amended was carried with 50 in favour; 0 against and 1 abstention.

In September 2023, Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission declared their judgment post inspection that the Local Area Partnership (LAP) had multiple systemic failures.

Despite the Priority Action Plan (PAP), the Council is failing to meaningfully engage with elected members on a cross-party basis or and capture the voice of families affected and the user, our young people.

Council calls on Cabinet to consider;

1. More Mmeaningfully involveing young people and youth organisations throughout all policy-making processes within SEND improvement and the PAP. Co-management and co-creation structures are the best way to ensure direct participation.

2. Any consultations or engagement with young people by this council must have a visible public follow-up to the outcomes and tangible metrics to ensure outcomes are delivered.

3. All Council policies and frameworks that affect young people, must include an impact assessment, and ensure there are that reasonable mitigation measures are put in place for those youth groups that might be negatively impacted by a new policy or framework.

4. Ensuring that where appropriate all future events, in person/online, run by or funded by OCC, especially those related to the PAP, LAP, and SEND improvement, are open to all appropriate young people with the attendance of their parent or carer.

5. Launching a rapid task force for the voice of the young person and SEND users, and task them to create a framework for a Youth Forum within 3 three months of this meeting date.

6. The leader to appoint a SEND Champion from an opposition group to enable seldom heard that a wider range of voices in the SEND community to are able to feed into SEND improvement and services, and that such person to sits on the SEND Improvement board.