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Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee - Wednesday, 16 July 2025 10.00 am
July 16, 2025 View on council website Watch video of meeting Read transcript (Professional subscription required)Summary
The Children, Families, Lifelong Learning and Culture Select Committee met to discuss several key issues, including progress in additional needs and disabilities support, the service's response to a recent Ofsted inspection, and performance overview reports. Councillors agreed to endorse recommendations to Cabinet regarding additional funding and staffing for SEND services, and also scrutinised Ofsted reports on council-run children's homes.
Additional Needs and Disabilities Progress Update
The committee reviewed the additional needs and disabilities (AND) progress update, expressing disappointment with the high-level nature of the report and the lack of measurable outcomes and timescales.
- Increased Investment and Staffing: The committee discussed and ultimately supported a proposal to increase staffing for customer-facing roles from 81 to 141, with the majority of roles expected to be filled by the end of the calendar year. The plan aims to reduce case holding and enable more proactive communication with families. The committee welcomed the additional funding and staffing but sought clarification on how the additional staff would be deployed and what measurable outcomes would be used to ensure case officers spend more time with schools and parents. Councillor Jonathan Hulley, Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, committed to providing an update at the end of the year.
- Parental Satisfaction: The committee discussed the Parent Voices Matter survey, which indicated widespread dissatisfaction among parents with SEND support. Rachel Wardell OBE, Executive Director for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, acknowledged the concerns and explained that the survey results had informed the plans going to Cabinet.
- End-to-End Review: The committee requested access to the end-to-end review of SEND services, which had been completed but not yet shared with the committee.
- Governance Board of the Panel: Councillor Liz Townsend raised concerns about the governance board of the panel, describing it as opaque and a source of frustration for parents. She requested a defined role for parents in the panel process.
- Alternative Provision Handbook: The committee discussed the creation of a parent handbook for alternative provision, with Councillor Fiona Davidson expressing disappointment that an alternative provision handbook would not be produced.
- Tribunal Decisions: The committee discussed the implementation of tribunal decisions, with Councillor John O'Reilly raising concerns about delays in implementing tribunal findings.
- Complaints: The committee discussed SEND-related complaints, with Councillor Jonathan Essex noting an increase in complaints escalated through councillors and MPs. Councillor Liz Townsend raised the issue of complaints being downgraded to inquiries.
- Golden Thread: The committee discussed the implementation of a golden thread to improve communication and understanding of the SEND process.
- New Portal: The committee discussed the development of a new portal for parents, with Councillor Jonathan Essex reporting positive feedback from families testing the portal.
- Recommendations: The committee endorsed several recommendations, including welcoming the additional funding and resourcing, communicating changes to the Governance Board panel, and exploring early help in association with the early help partnership.
Service Response to the Inspection of Surrey Local Authority Children's Services (ILACS)
The committee reviewed the service's response to the recent Ofsted inspection, which rated Surrey's children's services as 'good'.
- Factors Contributing to Good Rating: The committee discussed the factors that contributed to the good rating, including stability in leadership, a clear shared understanding of strengths and weaknesses, commitment to a relationship-based practice model, and resources.
- Areas for Improvement: The committee discussed the three specific areas for improvement identified by Ofsted: collaborative safety planning with children and families, the numbers of care leavers in education, training and employment, and the embedding of the work of the central hub to ensure that protective responses to children who go missing or are at risk of exploitation are effective for every child.
- Maintaining Good Rating: The committee discussed how to maintain the good rating and potentially achieve an outstanding rating in the future.
- International Social Worker Recruitment: Councillor Jonathan Essex raised concerns about the impact of international social worker recruitment on the countries they come from and the need to avoid leaving those countries behind.
- Local Government Reorganisation: Councillor John O'Reilly raised concerns about the impact of local government reorganisation on the stability and commitment to a model that has proven successful. Rachel Wardell acknowledged the risks but expressed confidence that the service would be able to navigate the changes.
- Youth Service: Councillor Chris Townsend raised the importance of the youth service and its contracts.
- Shared Services: Councillor Liz Townsend suggested looking at other models, such as shared services across unitaries.
Children's Homes - Ofsted Reports
The committee received Ofsted reports on Surrey County Council-run children's homes.
- Education: Councillor Fiona Davidson expressed concern about children in one home not being in formal education.
- Vacancies: Councillor Jonathan Essex raised concerns about vacant responsible person and manager positions in one home.
- Registration: Tina Benjamin, Director of Corporate Parenting, explained the two-tier process for registering managers and the backlog at Ofsted.
Performance Overview
The committee received a performance overview of children, families and lifelong learning.
- Mindworks: Councillor Fiona Davidson expressed concern about the waiting lists for ND assessments and developmental paediatric attention at Mindworks, describing the situation as shocking. Councillor Jonathan Essex suggested supplementing the data with family voice feedback.
- Out of School: Councillor Fiona Davidson noted that the mean length of time out of education for those with an EHCP1 and out of school had risen.
- Social Workers: Councillor Fiona Davidson noted the recruitment and retention of more permanent social workers.
- Foster Carers: Councillor Fiona Davidson noted the optimism in respect of recruiting and retaining more foster carers, but the figures have yet to demonstrate a significant recovery.
- Councillor Email Box: Councillor Fiona Davidson raised concerns about the responses received from the councillor email box, describing them as often late and not answering the question. Other councillors shared mixed experiences, with some reporting good responses and others reporting inconsistent or variable responses. Claire Curran, Deputy Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Lifelong Learning, encouraged councillors to use the member's dedicated email address or direct inquiries through her office or Councillor Hulley's office.
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An Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) is for children and young people aged up to 25 who need more support than is available through special educational needs support. They are usually provided where a child has a disability or learning difficulty. ↩
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