Date of Joint OFSTED / CQC Local Area SEND Re-visit Inspection of Shropshire Services Announced

07/11/2022

Today Shropshire Council and the local Integrated Care System have been informed that the Local Area SEND Re-visit Inspection of Shropshire Services will take place week being Monday 21^st November 2022.

This inspection follows the initial visit in January 2020 when the experience of the SEND Community was captured in the original Inspection Report.  You can find out more about the initial inspection and its findings here. If you would like to comment on Shropshire SEND services that do not fit within the areas of weakness described below, please contact PACC directlty via our website, email, or Facebook page so we can include this in our ongoing representations to the Shropshire SEND Partnership.

The purpose of the re-visit is to understand if Shropshire has made sufficient progress in addressing the areas of significant weakness detailed below;

1. Inconsistent strategic leadership and weak strategic planning most notably in the CCG, including the ineffective use of data to accurately commission and plan services;
2. The lack of inclusion of health services’ input into the area’s SEND action plan
3. Significant waiting times for large numbers of children and young people on the ASD and ADHD diagnostic pathways;
4. Significant waiting times for those needing assessment and treatment from the speech and language therapy service;
5. Inconsistency in the quality of input from education, health and care into EHC assessment and planning;
6. The high rate of exclusions for children and young people with an EHC plan and the high rate of repeat fixed-term exclusions for those receiving SEND support.

What Will Happen?

Inspectors will want to understand the experiences of children and young people with SEND and their families, in Shropshire. There will be a chance for parent carers to speak directly with the Inspection Team (details of this will be shared as soon as we have the final information), who will also meet directly with PACC representative.  PACC will share a number of recent reports detailing the experience of Shropshire parent carers, sharing feedback on the quality and impact of Shropshire SEND Services.  The key reports to be shared will be the State of SEND – Shropshire Update Report and the Mad, Sad, Glad Report 2022.  These and other reports are available on the following link http://www.paccshropshire.org.uk/about-us/pacc-newsletters-and-reports

You can find further information on the Re-Inspection process on https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/local-area-send-inspection-guidance-for-inspectors/guidance-for-carrying-out-re-visits-to-local-areas-required-to-produce-a-written-statement-of-action#timeframe

The Inspections Team will be issuing a parent carer survey on Monday 14^th November, which will close on Friday 19^th November.  This survey will focus on the key areas identified in the initial inspection as areas of weakness and will be asking for feedback on the progress made in Shropshire since January 2020. The survey is accessible here after it opens. We will share the link regularly throughout the week for families to contribute their thoughts and experiences.

PACC has agreed that both face to face and virtual meetings with the Inspection Team will be made available to Shropshire parent carers.  If you would like to register your interest in attending one of these meetings, please complete the form on the following link https://forms.office.com/r/n9Vpxkt5s2   

Our hope is that a face-to-face meeting will be held in the Shrewsbury area, during school hours and the virtual meeting will take place on Microsoft Teams during the evening.  Again further information will be shared once confirmed.

If you have any questions please do contact PACC on enquiries@paccshropshire.org.uk