1. Local Area SEND Inspection
November 2016

2. Framework for inspection of local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting the needs of children and young people who have SEND
New duties were placed on local areas regarding provision for children and young people with SEND
The Secretary of State for Children and Families has asked Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) to inspect local areas on their effectiveness in fulfilling the new duties.
A framework setting out the key inspection principles, to be read alongside a handbook for inspection was published on 27 April Inspections started on 1 May 2016.
All local areas will be inspected at least once during a five-year period.
The framework and handbook are made available to help ensure that LAs, health services, early years settings, schools, further education providers and other organisations are informed about the process and procedures for inspection, and to support local areas in their self-evaluation and ongoing improvement.
The local area includes the local authority (LA), clinical commissioning groups (CCGs), public health, NHS England for specialist services, early years settings, schools and further education providers.
Selection of local areas will try to ensure a national spread and take account of the timing of other inspection activity.

3. Purpose of inspection
The inspection will review how local areas support children and young people with SEND to achieve the best possible educational and other outcomes, including being able to live independently, secure meaningful employment and be well prepared for their adult lives. They are about holding to account, but also to assist.
The inspection will provide a published report (in the form of a narrative letter outlining strengths and key priorities) that provides:
Children and young people, parents, elected council members, local providers and managers with an assessment of how well the local area is meeting the needs of children and young people with SEND
Information for the Secretary of State about how well the local area is performing
Ofsted and CQC must carry out their work in ways that encourage services they inspect to improve, be user-focused and be efficient and effective in their use of resources.
The inspections will provide an independent external evaluation of how well a local area carries out its statutory duties in relation to children and young people with SEND to support their further development.

4. The local area and the role of the local authority, health partners and other agencies
Each local area will be asked to nominate a representative (a ‘local area nominated officer’) to act as a single point of contact on behalf of all agencies throughout the inspection. Their role will be to liaise with the lead HMI so that inspection activities can be coordinated effectively.
Although the local area is the geographical area of the local authority, the inspection will extend to those residents who attend educational establishments or receive services outside the local authority area.
The starting point for inspection is the expectation that the local area has a good understanding of how effective it is. Leaders for the local area should have an understanding of strengths and aspects that require further development. Inspectors will test out the accuracy of this understanding during the inspection.
The term ‘leaders’ refers to those responsible for the strategic planning, commissioning, management, delivery and evaluation of services to children and young people with SEND.

5. The local area and the role of the local authority, health partners and other agencies
During the inspection, inspectors will visit providers and services to gain an understanding of how providers and agencies work together to improve the life chances of children and young people with SEND.
Services will include:
Schools, early years settings and FE colleges
Specialist support and therapies, such as clinical treatments and delivery of medications, speech and language therapy, assistive technology, personal care (or access to it), Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAMHS) support, occupational therapy, habilitation training, physiotherapy, a range of nursing support, specialist equipment, wheelchairs and continence supplies and also emergency provision. They could include highly specialist services needed by only a small number of children.
Social care services include childcare, leisure activities, support for young people when moving between social care children services and social care adult services, and support for young people in living independently and participating fully in society.

6. Inspection focus
Inspectors will consider how effectively the local area identifies, meets the needs of and improves the outcomes of the wide range of different groups of children and young people with SEND.
Inspectors will pay particular attention to:
the accuracy and rigour of the local area’s self-evaluation
the extent that outcomes for children and young people are improving as a result of the collective actions
the efficiency of identification of SEND
the timeliness and usefulness of assessment
how well local agencies plan and coordinate their work
how well children and young people and their parents and carers inform decisions about the strategic commissioning of services
how well the individual child or young person and their parents and carers are engaged in the process of assessing their needs
how well the local area communicates with children and young people and their parents or carers

7. Handbook for inspection of local areas’ effectiveness in identifying and meeting needs of children and young people with SEND
The inspection handbook gives more detail on how the inspection is conducted and the range of evidence that will be considered by inspectors to underpin their findings.
The handbook has two parts:
Part 1: How local areas will be inspected
This contains information about the processes before, during and after the inspection.
 Part 2: The evaluation schedule
This contains guidance for inspectors on assessing the effectiveness of local areas in fulfilling their statutory duties set out in the Code and the kinds of evidence that inspectors will collate and analyse to make their judgements.

8. Part 1: How local areas will be inspected – before the inspection
In planning for the inspection, inspectors will consider all available evidence to develop an initial picture of the local area’s performance and develop initial hypotheses / key lines of enquiry by analysing:
outcomes for children and young people with SEND in national assessments
attendance and exclusion information
data relating to the identification of SEND at SEND support and EHC plan levels
information about destinations after leaving school
performance towards expected timescales for completing assessments
inspection reports for the local area
the published local offer
the local authority short break statement
schools’ and nurseries’ published SEND information reports
the JSNA (continued…)

9. How local areas will be inspected – before the inspection
the joint health and well-being strategy
SEND strategic plans devised and used by the local area
Level of appeals to the First-tier Tribunal, including cases resolved prior to tribunal hearing
any relevant serious case reviews and outcomes
performance information published by the DfE and DoH
commissioning and performance data on delivery:
of healthy child programme (previous 12 months)
of school nursing service (previous 12 months)
on neonatal screening programme
on 0−25 services for child and adolescent mental health services (CAMHS), speech and language therapy, occupational therapy, physiotherapy (to include commissioned care pathways and specialist arrangements for children with SEND).

10. How local areas will be inspected – before the inspection
The lead HMI and CQC inspector will also review additional information such as:
evaluation from service users and how these have influenced commissioning and changes to service delivery
data about initial and health review assessments for LAC with SEND
pathways for referrals to health services for assessment, including CAMHS, therapies, child development centres and associated performance data
statistics on health attendance and input into EHC assessment and review meetings
specifications for local area services, including those for young people aged between 16 to 25

11. Notification and introduction
The lead HMI will normally contact the LA’s Director of Children’s Services (DCS) by telephone to announce the inspection five working days before the inspection. This notification call will normally take place between 9am and 10am. The lead HMI will make arrangements to speak with the Director’s nominated officer for the inspection as soon as possible in order to make the necessary arrangements for the inspection.
Once the lead HMI has contacted the LA, the CQC inspector will contact the Chief Executive of the clinical commissioning group (CCG) to inform them of the inspection and to make necessary arrangements for the local health services’ contribution to the inspection.
The lead HMI will then make an extended telephone call to the local area’s nominated officer request information

12. Notification and introduction
The CQC inspector’s extended call to the chief executive(s) of the CCG(s) is to:
identify key health professionals who will be interviewed by inspectors
identify key sources of evidence required to enable inspectors to make their evaluations and request that this information is made available as soon as possible
make arrangements for regular feedback on and discussion about the emerging findings of the inspection
establish how the health files for children and young people who are being considered for, or assessed for, or who have an EHC plan can be accessed.
Following confirmation of the inspection with the LA and CCG, the lead HMI will contact the local area’s Parent Carer Forum and the Information Advice and Support Service to inform them of the inspection and request that they inform parents and carers of the inspection. Arrangements for inspectors to meet representatives of these groups will usually be made by the local area’s nominated officer.

13. On-site inspection
Inspections do not normally last longer than five days. Inspectors will not arrive before 9 am on the first day of the inspection. The first meeting is likely to include the following people:
the DCS and elected members with specific responsibilities for SEND
senior managers of the LA responsible for the implementation of the SEND reforms, including the strategic development and operational management of educational and social care provision for children and young people who have SEND
the chief executive(s) of the CCGs
senior health service managers responsible for the implementation of the SEND reforms, including the strategic development and operational management of provision for children and young people who have special SEND
representatives of the local area’s education, health and social care providers and services.

14. Gathering and evaluating evidence
Inspectors will gather evidence to assess the effectiveness of the local area for three primary questions that underpin Part 2 of the handbook.
During the week, the lead HMI, Ofsted inspector and CQC inspector will gather inspection evidence through:
meetings with a range of leaders from education, health and social care
meetings with children and young people to discuss their views/experiences
meetings with parents and carers to hear their views and involvement
scrutinising and evaluating documentary evidence used by the local area to strategically plan for and evaluate impact
visits to a range of agencies and providers to meet with staff and review documentary evidence
interviewing staff across the local area to understand the impact of the local area’s effectiveness.

15. Gathering the views of children and young people, and parents and carers
This will be done in the following ways:
meeting children and young people, and their parents and carers, during visits to nurseries, schools and colleges at the time of the inspection
meeting established groups of children and young people and their parents and carers in the local area
talking to a range of staff who work with children and young people, and parents and carers, in a range of settings across education, health and social care
reviewing information already gathered by the local area, such as through local consultations and surveys and how this is used to evaluate and respond to the views of children and young people, and their parents and carers.

16. Children and young people’s records
Inspectors will review a selection of records held by providers and services and by the LA. This review will contribute to inspectors’ evaluation of how effectively needs are identified, the extent to which needs have been met and how well outcomes are improving.
Inspectors will evaluate how well records track the needs and support for children and young people through work with education, health and social care professionals.

17. Part 2: Evaluation Schedule
To make judgements about the effectiveness of the local area, inspectors will gather evidence to answer three primary questions:
Question A: How effectively does the local area identify children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities?
Question B: How effectively does the local area assess and meet the needs of children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities?
Question C: How effectively does the local area improve outcomes for children and young people who have special educational needs and/or disabilities?

18. Part 2: Evaluation Schedule
In gathering evidence and making judgements, several crucial aspects will inform the inspectors’ evaluations. These include:
the leadership of provision for SEND across the local area
the impact of joint commissioning
the local arrangements, including the local offer and how well leaders understand the local area
how the local area uses the intelligence gathered from evaluation of its effectiveness to plan for and lead future improvement.

19. Health specific
To gather evidence about the effectiveness of local area partners in improving health for children and young people who have SEND, inspectors will evaluate how well the local area uses specialist services and its impact on outcomes. This should, for example, include evidence about the work of specialist support and therapies e.g. clinical treatments and delivery of medications, assistive technology, personal care (or access to it), CAMHS and a range of nursing support.
Inspectors will also examine how well the local area uses highly specialist services needed by only a small number of children and young people e.g. support services for children with severe learning disabilities commissioned centrally by NHS England (e.g. some augmentative and alternative communication systems).