The Education and Young People Overview & Scrutiny Committee of Oxfordshire County Council is scheduled to meet on Friday 30 January 2026. The meeting's agenda includes a review of the Local Area Partnership's Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) monitoring and Priority Action Plan, as well as an update on guidance for Education Other Than At School (EOTAS). The committee will also consider its forward work programme and review the progress of previous recommendations.

Local Area Partnership Monitoring and Priority Action Plan

A significant focus of the meeting will be the Local Area Partnership's SEND monitoring and Priority Action Plan. The committee is scheduled to consider a report detailing progress made in addressing issues identified in a 2023 SEND inspection. This report, presented by Councillor Sean Gaul, Cabinet member for Children and Young People, alongside Lisa Lyons, Director of Children's Services, and Matthew Tait, the Integrated Care Board's Chief Operating Officer, will outline the actions taken and the ongoing challenges. Also invited to present are Annette Perrington, Interim Deputy Director for Education, Deborah Smith, Assistant Director: SEND and Inclusion, Steve Crocker, independent Chair of the Oxfordshire SEND Strategic Improvement and Assurance Board, and the Co-Chair of the Oxfordshire Parent Carer Forum. The committee will be asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to the Cabinet.

The report highlights that following a 2023 inspection which identified 'systemic failures', an improvement notice was issued by the Department for Education. Since then, the local area partnership has been working to strengthen SEND services, with a particular emphasis on the voice of children, young people, and parent carers. An Ofsted and CQC monitoring inspection in September-October 2025 found that the local area had taken effective action to address the priority areas, noting strengthened governance, improved communication, and enhanced opportunities for families to contribute to service planning. However, the report acknowledges that further improvements are still needed. The updated Priority Action Plan is structured around four themes: Right Support, Right Time, Right Plan, Right First Time, Every Time, Right Provision, Right Time, and Preparation for Adulthood.

The report details progress against five key areas for priority action identified in 2023:

• Gathering the views of children and young people with SEND: Progress has been made with the SEND Youth Forum and working with the Oxfordshire Parent Carer Forum (OxPCF). Future steps include broadening the group of young people consulted and strengthening the voice of children in annual review processes for Education, Health and Care (EHC) plans.
• Developing communication systems: Clear communication structures have been put in place, leading to professionals working more closely together. The SEND Together conference was noted as a success. Further work will focus on embedding partnership values and ensuring positive family experiences.
• Improving timeliness and quality assurance of EHC plans: A new quality assurance framework has been introduced, and waiting times for assessments and issuing new plans have improved. However, consistency in quality and partnership contributions to annual reviews still require attention.
• Improving commissioning of services: The partnership has jointly commissioned a range of appropriate services, with improved oversight to ensure children and young people with SEND use suitable and safe provision. Initiatives like enhanced pathways and special school outreach are meeting the needs of more children in mainstream settings. Challenges remain with wait times for some health services.
• Monitoring and measuring impact: Progress is monitored through theme groups and the SEND Improvement and Assurance Board, with data dashboards developed. Co-design of the new SEND strategy with children, young people, and families is ongoing.

The report also includes financial and legal implications, noting that the updated SEND Priority Action Plan will have financial implications across the General Fund and the Dedicated Schools Grant (DSG).

Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) Update

The committee is also scheduled to receive a report outlining draft guidance arising from the Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) Policy, which was approved by Cabinet in July 2025. Councillor Sean Gaul, Lisa Lyons, Annette Perrington, and Deborah Smit have been invited to present this report. The committee will be asked to consider the report and agree any recommendations it wishes to make to the Cabinet. The report was not received at the time of publication.

Committee Forward Work Plan and Action Tracker

The committee will be asked to agree its work programme for forthcoming meetings, taking into account the Cabinet Forward Plan and the Budget Management Monitoring Report. Additionally, the committee will review the Committee Action and Recommendation Tracker, noting the progress of previous recommendations and actions arising from earlier meetings. The tracker indicates that recommendations from the Virtual School Report and Fostering discussions in November 2025 are being progressed, with updates expected in January 2026.

The Education and Young People Overview & Scrutiny Committee's responsibilities include scrutinising services and initiatives related to children, young people, education (including Home to School Transport and SEND), and family support. It also covers the council's statutory functions in children's social care and safeguarding, matters relating to care leavers, and the welfare of unaccompanied young asylum seekers and young carers.