Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department is taking to support Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council to reduce the time taken to complete education, health and care plans.

Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission conducted a joint inspection of the local area of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole in June 2021 and identified eight areas of significant weaknesses. Following this inspection, the Local Area Partnership were required to produce a Written Statement of Action.

Where local authorities are failing to deliver consistent outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), the department works closely with them using a range of improvement programmes and SEND specialist advisors to address weaknesses.

The department has appointed a SEND specialist advisor to work closely with the Council and has approved a robust package of sector led improvement support from Bedford Borough Council. Amongst a wide range of support, the specialist advisor and Bedford Borough Council are supporting the Council with meeting the 20 week timescales within the Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan process and improving the quality of EHC plans being produced.

Alongside this support, the department has issued the Council with a statutory direction for SEND services on 26 February 2024. This is due to the inadequate progress the Council has made following the Written Statement of Action Plan since their local area SEND inspection in June 2021. In line with the direction, the department will be working closely with the local area to ensure they are supported in addressing issues and driving improvements to services.