The Children and Families Scrutiny Committee was scheduled to meet on 1 July 2025 to discuss the findings of a recent inspection regarding special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) arrangements in Waltham Forest, and to review the committee's forward plan for the coming year. The committee was also scheduled to review action trackers from previous meetings.

Here's a breakdown of the key items that were scheduled to be discussed:

SEND Inspection Findings and Improvement Plan

The committee was scheduled to discuss the findings of the Ofsted/CQC SEND Inspection, which took place between 27 January and 14 February 2025. The inspection assessed the effectiveness of the local area's arrangements for children with SEND.

The report pack included the findings of the inspection, which stated:

The local area partnership's arrangements lead to inconsistent experiences and outcomes for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The local area partnership must work jointly to make improvements.

The report identified several strengths, including:

• A shared ambition for children with SEND across the area partnership
• High quality, inclusive settings with strong multi-agency support
• A strong multi-agency Family Hub offer
• Integrated neuro-diversity assessments
• Good adult health transitions
• The strengths of the 'All talk' communication programme
• Good oversight of children in residential education and care placements
• Early Help adult link workers reducing isolation for some young adults with SEND
• A Fair Access Panel supporting children from Alternative Provision back into mainstream education
• An Alternative Provision strategy including plans to improve provision in the Local Area

However, the inspection also identified areas for improvement, including:

• Waiting times for specialist health interventions
• Strategic use of data
• Preparation for Adulthood
• Co-production work
• The quality and timeliness of Education, Health and Care Plans and their Annual Reviews

The report pack also included the SEND Local Area Improvement Plan, which was developed in response to the inspection findings. The plan outlines key priorities and actions to address the areas for improvement identified in the inspection report. The plan includes six priorities:

• All children in Waltham Forest with SEND have their needs identified early and receive timely intervention, in a child-focused way.
• Strong communication and co-production with children, young people, and their families.
• All children have a high quality outcome-focused education, health and care plans
• All children attend a setting which improves education and life outcomes
• All transitions prepare children and young people with SEND for their next life stages, including adulthood
• All children with SEND in Waltham Forest have timely access to health services

The committee was asked to review the information within the report, ask questions, and make recommendations as required.

The Scrutiny Report

The committee was scheduled to review the draft Forward Plan for the 2025/26 municipal year. The Forward Plan outlines the committee's work programme for the year, including statutory reports, major decisions, themed reviews, and policy areas of interest.

The committee was also scheduled to review the Action Tracker and Recommendation Tracker from previous meetings. The Action Tracker captures all actions required of officers by the committee and provides an update on progress. The Recommendation Tracker captures all recommendations made by the committee and tracks the responses to those recommendations.

The report pack included the Children and Families Scrutiny Forward Plan 25/26 Cycle: Rationale, which provided a rationale for the inclusion of specific items on the forward plan. The document stated that scrutiny chairs had been in discussion with officers to ascertain which items are most appropriate for inclusion on the forward plan, including statutory, pre-decision, large-scale or highly impactful items that fall within the remit of this committee.

The report pack also included action logs and recommendations logs from the 2024-25 municipal year.

Minutes from Previous Meeting

The committee was scheduled to approve the minutes of the meeting held on 30 April 2025¹.