Agenda item

(To receive a report from Councillor Mrs Angela Newton (Chairman of the Transitions Scrutiny Panel), which invites the Board to consider the draft final report arising from the scrutiny review into Transitions)

Councillor Mrs J Brockway declared a personal interest as her family were service users.

Councillor M Whittington declared a personal interest as a member of his family was a service user.

Consideration was given to a report by Councillor Mrs A Newton, Chairman of the Transitions Scrutiny Panel, which invited the Board to consider the draft final report arising from the Transitions Scrutiny Review.

The scrutiny panel had been established with the purpose of reviewing the individual experiences of young people transitioning into adulthood for young people with more complex educational needs, who received support through an Education, Health and Care Plan, as well as Looked After Children.

The Scrutiny Panel had engaged with professionals from Children's Services, Adult Care, and had undertaken visits to New College Stamford, Bourne Willoughby School and Lincolnshire Wolds Federation St Bernard's School in Louth. Panel Members had also engaged with two service users who had relevant experience with the transitions process. 

The Chairman of the Panel was pleased to report that the vast majority of transitions were supported successfully, and the overall transitions arrangements at Lincolnshire County Council were good.

The report set out three recommendations to be forwarded to the Executive Councillor for Adult Care, Health and Children's Services for consideration. Members were provided with the opportunity to discuss the recommendations, in which the following points were noted: 

·       Members raised concerns about the difficulty in identifying the needs of home educated children.

·       The Head of Paid Service explained that it was a requirement that the Council made reasonable attempts to check that a home educated child was receiving satisfactory educational provision. However, as there was no compulsory requirement for guardians to notify the local government authority that a child was being home educated, it could be difficult to ensure that every child's needs was being met.

·       It was felt that more support needed to be provided for adults who had previously been in foster care but did not remain in contact with their foster families.

·       Members emphasised the need to support young people with the transition to adulthood and independence, and to help identify skills that could help them succeed in adulthood. 

·       It was clarified that the SEND action plan was progressing positively and the County Council were working with the Clinical Commissioning Group's (CCG's) to improve the diagnosis of autism and other neurological conditions.

·       It was noted that there was generally a low level of feedback received from parent carers regarding the scrutiny review on their Educational Health and Care (EHC) needs planning process, but the feedback provided was generally positive.  It was thought that the lack of feedback suggested that parents were generally satisfied with the service, and therefore did not feel the need to routinely provide feedback.

The Board supported the recommendations set out in the draft Final Report on Transitions, and were satisfied that the report be submitted to the Executive on 9 July 2019, without amendment.

On behalf of the Board, the Chairman thanked all members of the Transitions Scrutiny Panel for their work on the review.

RESOLVED:

1.    That the Board approve the draft Final Report on Transitions, without amendment;

2.    That the report be submitted to the Executive on 9 July 2019, for its consideration and response.

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