This meeting of the Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission was scheduled to include discussion of various aspects of special educational needs provision, a presentation about inclusion in schools, and the planned work programme of the Commission.

Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) Update

The report pack included a report providing an update on the timeliness of Education, Health and Care Plan assessments following previous discussions about backlogs in the process, as well as a review of the number of appeals against the council's decisions on EHCPs. It was scheduled to include the number of appeals dropped due to the granting of EHCPs after the appeal was made, the role of the council's Legal Services team in EHCP appeal cases, and details of the money spent by the council on providing for Southwark children with EHCPs in schools and colleges outside the borough.

Interviewing Retired Headteacher (SEND) and SEND Tribunal Mediator.

The commission was scheduled to hear from Fran Goggins, a retired headteacher working with SEND, and Catriona Ogilvy, a SEND Tribunal Mediator. They were scheduled to discuss their personal experience of SEND in Southwark, the challenges of dealing with SEND in Southwark, and what improvements they think need to be made.

Inclusions in Schools

The report pack included two reports about inclusion in schools.

The first, about permanent exclusions, included information about:

• Which schools in Southwark permanently excluded the highest number of pupils in the last 3 and 5 years.
• How many Southwark schools had permanently excluded no pupils at all during the same periods.

The second report was about persistent absence in schools. It provided information about the demographics of persistent absence in Southwark, including:

• A breakdown by gender of the persistent absence rate in primary, secondary and special schools in the borough.
• The rates of persistent absence for different ethnic groups in the borough.
• A comparison of the rate of persistent absence for children with an Education, Health and Care Plan¹, for those with SEN support, and for those with no identified SEND needs. ### Proposed Work Programme 2024-2025 Finally, the meeting was scheduled to include a discussion of the proposed work programme of the Education and Local Economy Scrutiny Commission for the 2024-2025 year. The report pack included an updated version of the work programme, including the addition of the topics included in Councillor Jasmine Ali's portfolio as Deputy Leader and Cabinet Member for Children, Young People and Education and Councillor John Batteson's portfolio as Cabinet Member for Climate Emergency, Jobs & Business following a decision by the commission in May 2024.