Agenda item

1:40

Education Scrutiny Committee has requested a briefing on progress to date with commissioning arrangements for Alternative Provision (AP) for Oxfordshire's children.  The existing arrangements, whereby Meadowbrook College provides AP for OCC and schools in Oxfordshire will be reviewed and then re-commissioned in line with best practice nationally.

Notice has been given to Meadowbrook College on the implied contract with OCC with the termination date under the current arrangements being 2021.  It is expected that Meadowbrook, as the main current provider of AP, will bid for the new service along with any other new market providers. The aim is to ensure that alternative provision is able to meet the needs of all Oxfordshire children who need it by offering both preventative provision and statutory provision for permanently excluded children.

The governance for this action sits within the overall Learner Engagement Strategy. The work will be delivered through the Alternative Provision Project Board.

The Education Scrutiny Committee is RECOMMENDED to consider and note this report.

At a previous Meeting, the Committee had requested a briefing on progress to date with commissioning arrangements for Alternative Provision (AP) for Oxfordshire's children.  The Committee had before them a report (ESC6) which outlined arrangements for a review and recommissioning of alternative provision in Oxfordshire.

Ms Bell reported that Oxfordshire County Council currently had the majority of its Alternative Provision (AP) delivered through Meadowbrook College. Meadowbrook College had become an academy in 2015 and was Oxfordshire’s maintained Pupil Referral Unit prior to that.  With the changing needs of Oxfordshire children, it was now necessary to formally recommission services.

Oxfordshire County Council was obliged, under the terms of the statutory Department for Education (DfE) guidance, ‘to provide full time alternative educational provision for all children who had permanently excluded from school from day 6 of that permanent exclusion.  It was also advisable to offer preventative alternative educational provision to prevent permanent exclusions from schools and to support effective reintegration for those children not in education. Interim educational provision should be available for Looked After Children in need of immediate education and children with Education, Health & Care plans between provision.

The review and recommissioning of alternative provision would help to deliver the vision in the new OCC Learner Engagement Strategy to:

o      assess and manage the financial implications for the Local Authority in meeting the increased and varied demand for alternative provision

o      ensure good quality, value for money alternative provision is in place so that OCC can meet its statutory responsibilities.

o      robustly monitor providers to demonstrate improved outcomes for young people requiring alternative provision.

The work was managed through an Alternative Provision Project Board, chaired by the Head of Children’s Commissioning and sponsored by the Deputy Director for Education.  The Board met monthly to manage a programme of work.

Formal notice was served on Meadowbrook in July 2019.  The notice period was two years, so it was expected that new contract(s) would be in place and fully operational from 31st August 2021.  This could be earlier with the agreement of the existing provider.

The impact of any changes on existing staff groups would be considered alongside the TUPE guidance.

The available budget for Alternative Provision was £2.96m consisting of £1.06m top sliced from the High Needs DSG block funding by the ESFA to fund commissioned places within Oxfordshire and top-up funding and additional bespoke provision equating to £1.9m.

The Alternative Provision budget was funded by the High Needs DSG block which was facing considerable pressure. The outcome of the recommissioning exercise would need to be contained within the available budget by seeking value for money options.

During discussion the following points were made:

In response to questions Deborah Bell confirmed that the vision would be informed by parents, head teachers, governors and providers and that the communities and engagement team would be undertaking the consultation.

Deborah Bell emphasised the importance of alternative provision not being a long-term solution for any child.  The emphasis needed to be on early intervention and prevention.

The Committee noted that permanent exclusions in 2018/19 were up by a single figure, but were well below national average and that fixed term exclusions in primary schools had reduced significantly.

The Committee further noted that 51% of permanent exclusion were SEND and that nearly 1 in 3 children who were permanently excluded had a TAF in place.  The Committee noted the importance of meeting the children’s needs at the point they needed to be met.

RESOLVED:  to thank officers for the report and request an update in the spring.