Issue - meetings

To consider report of the Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education.

That the responses to the recommendations of the People and Health Scrutiny Committee, made on 16 April 2026 following its inquiry into Education, Health and Care Assessment and Planning, be agreed.

Reason for the decision

The Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations were consistent with actions that the service had already implemented or had identified as necessary to improve the experiences of children and families accessing the service. The service recognised and accepted the Scrutiny Committee’s role in holding it to account for performance in this area and welcomed the recommendations as supporting ongoing improvement activity.

Prior to consideration of the following item, the Director of Assurance and Governance apologised to the Chair of People & Health Scrutiny Committee (PHSC) and the Leader of the Council regarding the timing of the report. He explained that, in accordance with Council procedures, the report should have been presented to Cabinet earlier. Following the meeting of the People & Health Scrutiny Committee in April, formal notification of the Committee’s recommendations should have been sent to the Leader of the Council, triggering the two-month period for Cabinet consideration. This process was not followed, and the required timescales were not met. The Director indicated that measures had now been put into place to prevent a recurrence.   

The Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Education presented a report responding to the recommendations made by the People and Health Scrutiny Committee. She proposed that Cabinet accept all the recommendations, as they were broadly consistent with the service’s existing direction of travel and the improvements already being implemented, except for recommendation two. In relation to that recommendation, it was proposed that a phased approach be adopted.

The Chair of People & Health Scrutiny Committee thanked all those involved in the review. She outlined the process undertaken by the working group as part of its investigation, including the inquiry day, and summarised the report's key findings and recommendations for Cabinet’s consideration.

In response, the Cabinet Member acknowledged that further work was required to improve the timeliness of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and achieve the target of issuing 75% within the statutory 20-week timescale. She highlighted that performance had improved significantly during the period reviewed by the Committee, increasing from 22% in September 2025 to 58% in Quarter 1 of 2026/27, exceeding the latest national average of 46%. The Cabinet Member also noted that delivery of the EHCP process was dependent on contributions from health partners and education providers, which could affect overall performance.

While supporting continued service improvement, the Cabinet Member advised that a target of 75% (in relation to the PHSC recommendation 2) was not considered realistically achievable on a consistent basis at this stage. It was therefore proposed that Cabinet adopt an initial target of 65%, with a stretch target of 75% from January 2027, following the implementation and embedding of the service improvements set out in the report.

The Cabinet Member thanked the Scrutiny Working Group for their work and effort on this matter and welcomed their continued support and challenge going forward.

It was proposed by Cllr C Sutton and seconded by Cllr J Andrews

Decision

That the responses to the recommendations of the People and Health Scrutiny Committee, made on 16 April 2026 following its inquiry into Education, Health and Care Assessment and Planning, be agreed.

Reason for the decision

The Scrutiny Committee’s recommendations were consistent with actions that the service had already implemented or had identified as necessary to improve the experiences of children and families accessing the service. The service recognised and accepted the Scrutiny Committee’s role in holding  ...  view the full minutes text for item 44