UPDATE NO 182 05 February 2016

Data Benchmarking – Welcome to Swindon Council

The newest members of the Data Benchmarking Group are Swindon Council, who have joined Somerset as “out-of-region” members of the group.  

As we approach a new municipal year, it is almost time to renew the Data Sharing Protocols. Please download to 2016 Template here.

The programme of meetings is: Tuesday 22nd March 2016; Thursday 16th June 2016; Wednesday 14th September 2016; Thursday 15th December 2016

All meetings to be held in the Longley Room at Crawley Library from 10am to 3pm. Outlook requests will be sent to group members in the near future

Ofsted Single Inspection Framework Programme

Adam King (Social Care Data & Analysis Team Leader, Data and Insight, Ofsted) writes,

Hi all, Just to confirm that the SIF programme has now been extended to December 2017 in order to get all the inspections completed.   If we can finish the programme sooner, we will. Grateful if you could cascade the message to your colleagues.  Thanks.

Of the 19 South East authorities, 15 have already been inspected under the Single Inspection Framework (and Slough have been inspected twice). The four authorities still awaiting the call are Bracknell Forest, Kent, Milton Keynes and Reading.  

SEND Ofsted/CQC inspections

There will be an event on 10th March in Winchester looking at the pilot SEND Ofsted/CQC inspections. Hants will be feeding back about the process and experience. 

Please contact Tracey Maytas (details below) for further information

Early Help

The Early Help project has published a draft Evaluation Framework and Literature Review.

Please can you give the draft document your consideration in advance of the next SEADCS meeting, when the question of its adoption and publication will be discussed. If you have any questions, please contact Patrick Leeson.

Monday 15 February – Local Authority Research Consortium (LARC) – Round 7 Now Open

The 7^th round of the Local Authority Research Consortium (LARC) will commence in April 2016. LARC is a collaborative research initiative, sector-led and focused on generating and sharing knowledge to support service and practice development. LARC 7 is co-facilitated by Research in Practice and National Children’s Bureau (NCB), and is chaired by Janette Karklins, (DCS Bracknell Forest). 

Two topics have been shortlisted: Young Carers and Peer-on-Peer Harmful Sexual Behaviour. Local authorities wishing to take part in LARC 7 are invited to express an interest in their preferred topic. See the 2016 consultation document(PDF download, 208KB) for more detail on these topics. 

LARC operates a not-for-profit model. The maximum fee for participating will be £5,800. However, as the costs are divided equally, the fee will be £5,000 if more than 15 LAs participate. This fee covers research support; development of research tools; workshops to provide practical support and share learning; analysis; reporting and dissemination of local and national level evidence. 

Local authorities wishing to express an interest in participating should complete theParticipation Form (Word 2003 .doc file, 108KB) and return to chris.green@rip.org.uk by15 Feb 2016.

Wednesday 2 March – Memorandum of Cooperation – Guildford Institute

The next meeting of the MoC Implementation Group is scheduled to take place on the 2nd March 1.15p.m -3.15 p.m. at The Guildford Institute (Ward Street, Guildford GU1 4LH). This will be a critical meeting in the development of the MoC and we encourage all authorities to attend. The aim of the meeting will be to finalise the arrangements for Phase 2 of the MoC, which will include:

• Launch date
• Agency pay rates
• Cooling off period for SE permanent staff moving to agency work
• The outline of the SE Regional Workforce Plan

Please contact Mark@markevansconsulting.co.uk to confirm attendance for representatives from your authority, if you are unable to send someone please contact Mark to arrange a time to discuss your authorities views about development of the next stage to of the MoC.

Thanks to those who have already completed the MoC Phase 2consultation we are working to collate your views to plan the next stages of the implementation. We want to get as complete a picture as possible,  so if you haven’t returned it yet there is still time. The consultation is contained at the end of the MoC Phase 2 November 2015 update. We will include any responses returned by 19 February 2016.

SE SEND Benchmarking Workshop 4 Tuesday 9th February 10am to 3pm (although we expect that it may be shorter than that)

The next SE SEND Benchmarking Workshop will be held in the Longley Room at Crawley Library. The library is close to Crawley Railway Station and there is a car park next to the library. A final agenda and any other papers will be distributed closer to the meeting date.

The ‘SEND Benchmarking Mar-16 Data Collection’ template which includes the full list of indicators for the return has already been distributed by e-mail. This list will be subject to review at the workshop so there is the potential for some changes, however several LA’s have been asking for the list so that they can begin planning their returns.

As with previous workshops, coffee will be available from 9:30 and a light lunch will be provided- if you are attending please let joseph.hutchings@eastsussex.gov.uk know if you have any special dietary requirements when responding to this invite.

SE Adoption Leadership Board Next Meeting 12th February 2016 11.00-1.00 at Shute End, Wokingham

The minutes of the last meeting will be circulated in due course

Dates and times for the rest of the year are set out below (all at Shute End Wokingham): 28 April 11:30 to 1:30; 27 June 11:00 to 1:00; 15 September 11:00 to 1:00; 24 November 11:00 to 1:00