Agenda item

To receive and consider the DSG Safety Valve report.

Sal Thirlway presented the DSG Safety Valve report.  He pointed out that assumptions had been made in relation to the figures presented in the report and that this was a ‘work in progress’ document.

The Safety Valve Programme was a programme being developed by the DfE and the Education Skills Funding Agency (ESFA) for those local authorities with a high level of deficit in their DSG, due to pressures in the HNB.

The programme involved an assessment of the situation and how the local authority proposed to address the challenges and plan for the future.

A programme of improvement had been set out, looking at short, medium and long term strategies and planning; to continue to support the children and address the deficit.

A range of partners were being engaged in the development of the Safety Valve. 

Over the last three years, the focus had been on improving the outcomes for young people, by delivering the improvements that were needed.  The focus and challenge now was on sustaining good outcomes, and at the same time addressing the deficit and finding a sustainable future.

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Sal Thirlway stated that the Safety Valve priorities aligned with the priorities already identified by the SEND IIP;

·           There were working groups working on each of the SEND IIP strategic priorities.  The intention was to align the Safety Valve with the work which was already taking place, build on and continue the engagement and co-production with partners;

·           In response to a question, Sal Thirlway stated that the involvement of Schools Forum was extremely important, given the implications on the DSG and HNB funding.  He suggested adding a Safety Valve update as a standing item in Schools Forum’s agendas;

·           Councillor Bray, Executive Member for Children’s Services explained that the Safety Valve was a mechanism to deliver the priorities that had already been identified by the service, it was not a separate initiative.  She emphasised that partnership working was essential to the delivery and success of the programme;

·           It was agreed that it was important to keep leaders informed on the development of the Safety Valve, not just at Schools Forum and the Wokingham Education Partnership, but also at other leaders’ sessions;

·           Helen Watson, Director for Children’s Services endorsed the previous comments and emphasised that this was a collective piece of work.  She stated that Sal Thirlway, Prue Bray and herself were open to hold conversations outside of the meeting too;

·           Carol Simpson noted the ambition to balance the books by 2027/28 and asked when Schools Forum would be provided with the numbers;

·           Sal Thirlway explained that there would be a meeting with the ESFA and discussions would follow to get an agreement on the way forward.  He anticipated that it could take two to three months to get a formal agreement, but he hoped to be able to state the position earlier than that, Schools Forum would be kept informed;

·           Sara Attra endorsed the initiative, however she pointed out the Safety Valve was not addressing the current crisis now.  She informed that Addington School was full to capacity, with no more places available.  This represented a burden on the school;

·           Sal Thirlway recognised the challenging situation being faced currently, and stated that it was important to think collectively and creatively about how to address this challenge;

·           Sara Attra suggested the possibility of creating satellite classes in mainstream schools, Addington could help to support to run those classes;

·           Shirley Austin agreed that there was a crisis now.  She highlighted the issue of children arriving from abroad with SEND and the difficulties with their assessments, placements and lack of capacity;

·           Sal Thirlway explained that various options were being considered, including satellite provision;

·           The Chairman asked if there were other streams of work or assumptions to mitigate the cumulative deficit in the next few years;

·           Lynne Samuel explained that there was a lot financial modelling underpinning the plans.  There were projections of unit costs, and considerations about the lack of resource space within the borough and the future provision of new special schools to mitigate the challenges;

·           Members expressed concern that there was no suggestion of a plan to address the immediate difficulties in 2023/24;

·           Shirley Austin stated that Out of Borough placements were very expensive and suggested that these funds could be used instead in creating more in-borough placements now;

·           Lynne Samuel explained that the financial models did take into account the projections of unmitigated risks, and how much it would cost if no action was taken;

·           Sal Thirlway explained that as well as reviewing the current resource spaces and the expansion of Addington, other options were being considered to create more specialist spaces within the borough quickly.  He added that the new Oaktree Special School was due to open in September 2023, and would alleviate some of the pressure;

·           Councillor Bray urged members to put forward any other ideas to create more spaces, these ideas would be considered.  She emphasised that the Local Authority could not tackle this issue on its own, schools had to be engaged, this partnership was very important.  She also added that the service was aware of the challenges, including in relation to children coming from abroad who needed to be re-assessed, there was a lot of work being undertaken internally;

·           Corrina Gillard asked if the new Oaktree School would be opening for all year groups, she was concerned that it could take 7 years before the school was open to all year groups;

·           Sal Thirlway informed that this aspect was still being negotiated with the Maiden Erlegh Trust, he was unable to give a timeline of when this decision would be made;

·           Corrina Gillard stated that she had a successful resource space within her school that she was happy to continue with.  She explained that she needed confirmation on the level of funding for this unit and expressed frustration that this decision had not yet been made, especially in the context of a shortage of local places as was being discussed;

·           Sal Thirlway accepted the point made by Corina Gillard;

·           Sara Attra asked if the designation for the new Oaktree School had been decided;

·           Sal Thirlway informed that the Oaktree School was going to be for children with ASD whom, with support, could access mainstream curriculum but could not access education in mainstream settings.

Members endorsed the programme and urged officers to take into account the points raised during the discussions.  Schools Forum encouraged officers to work with the ESFA to put together a plan for the future to address the budget challenges.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The contents of the report be noted;

2)     The work that has been undertaken in the development of the proposals be welcomed;

3)     The contents of the report and the next steps be supported in principle;

4)     Upon feedback on negotiations with schools and the ESFA, detailed calculations be built into budget decisions by Schools Forum going forward, as appropriate; and

5)     A DSG Safety Valve update be included as a standing item in Schools Forum agendas.