Scathing report on services for SEND children in Devon

Devon County Council works with NHS Devon to deliver SEND services

A scathing report has revealed Devon's services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) have not improved.

Four areas of "significant concern" were identified in December 2018 following a joint visit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

Inspectors revisiting in May found "progress has not been made" in fixing any of the issues.

The government is now threatening to intervene.

Devon County Council and NHS Devon work in partnership to run SEND services. Both organisations have apologised.

Representatives from the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England will meet council and local health leaders on 19 July to discuss next steps, which could include a government intervention.

As reported by the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Andrew Leadbetter, Devon's cabinet member responsible for children's services, called it the "low point" of his year in the job.

He said: "As a council, we recognise that the experiences of children and their families with SEND is falling far short of our aspiration for them, and we are sorry for the impact this has had on so many of our residents."

Mr Leadbetter pledged to improve the service saying: "We have an improvement plan, we know what needs to be done, and will redouble our efforts to work more closely with our partners and SEND families to help us do the right things for children and young people."

Julian Brazil, leader of the Liberal Democrat opposition at Devon County Council, described the report as "damning".

Carol Whitton, leader of the Labour group, called on the government to "step up, take control and deal with the failings within Devon so that all our children get the best start in life possible".

Darryn Allcorn, NHS Devon's chief nurse, said: "We recognise that there has been insufficient progress in making the improvements identified in the last inspection and, on behalf of NHS Devon, I offer my sincere apologies for the impact this has had on the children who depend on these services and their parents and carers."

He added : "We fully accept the findings of the report and are committed to working with our partners to do whatever is needed to improve special educational needs and disability services for local children and their families in Devon."