UPDATE NO 474 08 October 2021

Political leadership of effective Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) systems. 10 Nov 2021 1.30pm to 4.00pm.

LGA online workshop for Lead Members of Children’s Services, Scrutiny Chairs and other political influencers who shape the leadership of SEND.

This session will build on and complement the Leadership Essentials course for Children’s Services and provides an opportunity to focus in more depth on political leadership of the SEND agenda.

The event will explore a range of challenges in relation to improving outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families including strategic leadership, effective partnerships and understanding what makes a SEND system effective. There will be opportunities to hear from councils that have demonstrated good practice, and a chance for delegates to network and share their own experiences.

This workshop is free to members and will be delivered via Zoom, book a place on Eventbrite. If you have any queries please contact Sangeeta.Bowman-York@local.gov.uk.

Levelling up: Five questions about what the government means by the phrase

On 22 September, The Institute for Government published Levelling up: Five questions about what the government means by the phrase.

The government’s flagship levelling up agenda lacks clear objectives, with policies often contradicting ministerial rhetoric about decentralising power.

This report analyses ministerial statements on levelling up and how money has been allocated, including the £4.8bn Levelling Up Fund, the £2.5bn National Skills Fund and plans to move 22,000 civil service jobs out of London by 2030. It says the government must address the gaps and tensions in its statements about levelling up, and it identifies three main areas where the government’s objectives remain unclear.

1. Is government prioritising the most deprived people or the lowest economic output areas?
2. What is the role of regional cities in the levelling up agenda?
3. Does levelling up mean decentralising power or not?

The report is here

Future dates for network meetings

Lead Members Group: Friday 3 December – Joint meeting with DCSs. More information from Alison Michalska (contact details below)

Data Benchmarking: Thursday 9 December 2021. More information from Alastair Lee (contact details below)

Adoption and Special Guardianship Leadership Board: Tuesday 12 October 2021. More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

AD Education: Friday 12 November – both 10.00am. More information from Chris Owen (contact details below)

AD Safeguarding: Friday 10 December 2021. More information from Mark Evans (contact details below)

QA Network: Friday 10 December 2021. 2pm – 5pm. More information from Amanda Meadows (contact details below)

Fostering Network: More information from Rebecca Eligon (contact details below)

SEND SE19: LA SEND Conversation 19 October 2021 More information from Tracey Maytas (contact details below)

Key messages from the SESLIP Steering Group meeting

The Steering Group met on Friday 1 October. The key messages were:

1. We are making preparations to relaunch the SE memorandum of cooperation on agency work on 1 Jan 2022, with a phased re-entry for a couple councils. As well as rates of pay, the memorandum will address conditions relating to home working and travel. More information from Mark Evans (details below).

2. Please download, sign and return the memorandum of understanding governing our regional work, including 

3. Congratulations to all concerned with the successful application to the Regional Recovery and Building Back Better Fund. If you missed out this time around, we are anticipating another bidding round in the spring, so if you have ideas or suggestions for projects to bid for next time, please contact one of the SESLIP consultants listed below.

4. Thank you and farewell to Rosemary Perry who is leaving the SESLIP consultant team after 10 years of support to various programmes.

£2.3m awarded to SESLI Programme

On 1 October DfE announced a grant of £2,354,120 to SESLIP from the Regional Recovery and Building Back Better Fund. Thanks to the many contributors to our successful application.

The s.31 grant later has been issued to East Sussex CC. Transfers to host councils will follow receipt of completed memorandums of understanding. Project leaders should contact Richard Tyndall (details below) to discuss implementation plans.

Implementing Family Hubs – free online conference 2 November 2021 9:30-15:00

The Anna Freud National Centre for Children and Families is hosting a virtual conference on Implementing Family Hubs on 2 November 2021. 

The event will launch the pilot of the Family Hubs Implementation Toolkit: a collection of coproduced resources aimed to support Local Authorities, Health, Education and VCS teams to implement Family Hubs in their local area. 

The event is suitable for Leaders, commissioners, or managers from Local Authorities, Health/CCGs, Education, or Voluntary and Community Sector.

Tutors will be Dr Camilla Rosan; Kate Dalzell; Professor Peter Fonagy; Donna Molloy; Ben Lewing

You can register here