The Children's Services and Education Overview and Scrutiny Committee met on Tuesday 13 October 2026, receiving positive news regarding the lifting of the SEND improvement notice and the agreement of local SEND reform plans. The committee also received an update on the Best Start Family Hubs programme, hearing directly from parents about its positive impact.

SEND Improvement Notice Lifted and Reform Plans Agreed

Councillor Caroline Newton, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate Services and Education, announced two significant achievements regarding Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services. Firstly, the local plans to implement the government's SEND reform agenda have been agreed by the Department for Education (DfE). Secondly, the SEND improvement notice that had been in place has been lifted. Councillor Newton expressed her appreciation to the team, partners, young people, families, and committee members for their hard work, which was recognised during a monitoring inspection and subsequent meetings with the DfE.

The SEND reform plan focuses on four key areas: the expert hand offer providing specialist advice to mainstream settings, specialist inclusion bases (with 122 opened in the first year and a further 56 planned this year), strengthening partnerships across education, health, and social care, and robust monitoring and accountability arrangements. An all-member briefing will be held to discuss these plans in more detail.

Chris Taylor, Cabinet Member for Children's and Family Services, echoed the thanks, highlighting that the committee's scrutiny and challenge during the SEND inspection were positively viewed by Ofsted.

Best Start Family Hubs Update

The committee received an update on the Best Start Family Hubs programme, with presentations from Jade, a parent whose son Regan attends the Erith hub, and Lisa, Regan's grandmother. They shared positive experiences of the hub's impact on their family, highlighting the welcoming environment and the friendships formed. However, they also raised concerns about the availability of age-appropriate groups for toddlers, particularly for children aged 12 months to two years, as current groups cater for babies or older children.

Patience Idowu, Head of Service for Early Health and MASH, confirmed that parents are generally returning visitors to the groups, indicating their value. Joan Woodham, Head of Service for Education Improvement and Partnerships, detailed the digital offer, including a parent-friendly website and an app currently in development to gather rich data. She also explained the focus on network sites within primary schools to achieve the target of 80% of children achieving a Good Level of Development (GLD) by the end of reception.

Councillor Abi Johnson raised a question about the reduction of a baby group from fortnightly to monthly, which was attributed to staff capacity but has now been increased. Councillor Peter Craske, Chairman, and Councillor Christine Catterall, among others, had previously visited the Erith hub and were impressed by the staff's dedication and the positive impact of the services.

Questions were raised about the number of returning visitors to the hubs, the digital offer, and the involvement of secondary schools in the network sites. Patience Idowu confirmed that most parents are returning visitors. Joan Woodham explained the development of a digital app to gather data and the focus on primary schools for network sites to support the GLD target.

Councillor Abi Johnson inquired about the reduction in group frequency, which was due to staff capacity but has now been addressed. Councillor Christine Catterall asked about the timeline for the completion of the outside space at the Erith hub and the development of services following the safety valve initiatives. Officers confirmed that the outside space was being adapted due to budget considerations but was being progressed, and that the Best Start in Life programme was building on the safety valve initiatives by utilising existing workforces and expertise.

The opening of the new Best Start Family Hub Thamesmead at Lakeside Medical Centre was also highlighted, integrating family and health support. The report indicated 4,502 family engagements between April and August 2026.

Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. Annual Report

Jenny Pearce, the independent scrutineer for Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. (Safeguarding Partnership for Children and Young People), presented the annual report for 2025-26. She described the partnership as working really effectively, with a strong business unit and committed leadership. The report details the partnership's priorities, including Getting basic child safeguarding right with a focus on Child Sexual Abuse (CSA) and Getting our collective response to adolescent vulnerability right, focusing on Equity, Equality, Diversity, and Inclusion (EEDI) and care-experienced children.

Councillor Jeremy Fosten raised concerns about the feedback regarding the abuse of boys, questioning if this was specific to teenagers and the reasons behind people refusing to report alleged abuse. Officers explained that there is a national recognition of the difficulty young men face in discussing their experiences of violence and that work is ongoing through targeted youth services to create safe spaces for discussion. Mr. Kitchman, Director of Children's Services, added that S.H.I.E.L.D. has an active training programme and various arrangements in place to raise awareness.

Councillor Sue Ford inquired about activities for 11-15 year olds to prevent them from getting into trouble. Mr. Kitchman outlined the holiday activities and food programmes, the targeted youth service, and commissioned providers like Charlton Athletic. Ms. Bassam, from the targeted youth service, mentioned plans to widen the offer for adolescents through a focused hub model. Mr. Taylor highlighted the success of the mobile unit and the importance of members advertising these services. Mr. Therese provided context on the DfE-funded holiday activity and food programme.

Councillor Christopher Reade noted the positive financial position of children's services, with an underspend, and praised the financial management of the team. Councillor Abi Johnson requested more detail on the mitigations in place. An officer explained that the main budget pressure is children's placements, and mitigations include investment in in-house fostering to increase numbers and stability, enabling children with complex needs to step down from residential care.

Councillor Christopher Reade also raised questions about asylum grant income changes and the SEND budget. Mr. Kitchman explained that the Home Office is proposing to fund under-18 asylum seekers to cost, which could impact the over-18 leaving care grant. Councillor Newton provided context on SEND transport and Educational Psychologists (EPs), noting the national shortage of EPs and the use of interim EPs while working to grow our own.

The committee noted the Bexley S.H.I.E.L.D. annual report.

Budget Monitoring Report

The committee reviewed the budget monitoring report for 2026/27 as at May 2026. Children's Social Care was forecasting an underspend of £0.083m, with pressures relating to asylum seeker grant income being managed. Education was forecasting an overspend of £0.669m, largely due to SEN transport and staffing costs for Educational Psychologists and Statutory Assessment & Inclusion. Mitigations are in place to offset pressures, and transformation savings are on target. Key drivers impacting expenditure include the percentage of children in care in residential placements, the number of EHCPs, and SEN transport demand.

Councillor Taylor commended the financial management of the Children's Services team for achieving an underspend despite pressures. Councillor Jackson requested more detail on the mitigations. An officer explained that investment in in-house fostering was a key mitigation for placement pressures. Councillor Christopher Reade praised the on-track progress with transformation savings and asked for clarification on asylum grant income changes and the SEND budget. Mr. Kitchman explained the potential Home Office changes to asylum seeker funding and Councillor Newton elaborated on SEND transport costs and EP staffing.

Work Programme

The committee reviewed its work programme for the upcoming year. Councillor Fosten raised questions about indicator CS14 (20-week EHCP target), CS16 (professional advice for EHCPs), and CS20 (persistent absentees). Officers provided explanations for the figures, noting challenges with EP recruitment, parental requests, and national attendance trends. They confirmed that Bexley's performance was generally better than national averages in these areas. Councillor Christopher Reade inquired about CS12, the number of young people in prison, and was pleased to hear there were none, attributing this to the youth justice team's diversionary work.

The committee noted the work programme and the status report.

The meeting concluded on a positive note with the news that Bexley had no young people in prison, a testament to the work of the Youth Justice Team.