Issue - meetings

20 minutes

The Board to consider the feedback report from the recent SEND Ofsted CQC Thematic Inspection on Preparing for Adulthood.

Chris Wilford, Director of Education & Safeguarding, B&NES.

Chris Wilford, Director of Education and Safeguarding, B&NES, summarised the report which highlighted the key findings of the recent Ofsted/CQC thematic review of arrangements for preparing for adulthood as follows:

1.  The review was across health and social care as well as the education service.

2.  The thematic review covered 4 main areas: employment, independent living, health and community and inclusion.

3.  The full report would be published in the near future.

4.  A full inspection was anticipated late in 2025, there were some challenges around capacity which the service was looking to address.

The Board raised the following comments:

1.  Thanked all those involved in preparing for the review.

2.  Noted that preparing for adulthood was an important issue for parent/carers.

3.  Asked for an update in six months’ time to look at progress.

The Board RESOLVED to:

1.  Note the OFSTED CQC final summary note written by the Inspectorates following the completion of the thematic review including that a number of strengths were identified by the Inspectorate, as well as some themes for development for partners in Education, Health and Social Care to consider.

2.  Be advised that the Department of Education commissions OFSTED/CQC to complete these thematic reviews to inform future DFE policy in a given area and note that the review was not a graded inspection.

3.  Note that the Inspectorates selected Bath & North East Somerset as the southwest region to host the review and were the fifth out of six regions nationally to receive this review.

4.  Note that the full OFSTED/CQC findings from the six thematic reviews will be published as a report in the autumn of 2024 and B&NES will be noted as one of the areas visited but will not be identifiable in the content of the report.

5.  Note that OFSTED/CQC did not provide the local area with a written summary of parent's or young people's surveys that were conducted during the review.

6.  Be assured that the Local Area Inclusion Partnership (LAIP) is tasked with delivering learning from the review and note that representatives from our parent carer forum sit on this partnership and will input into this work stream.