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An attempt to topple the Lancashire County Council cabinet member responsible for special needs services for children has failed.
The opposition Labour group on the authority forced an extraordinary meeting at County Hall to discuss a damning Ofsted report that highlighted “widespread and…systemic failings” in the system.
Labour leader Matthew Tomlinson had initially called for an explanation as to why inspectors had found so many flaws in the support available to the families of youngsters with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).
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But he later also supported a demand from party colleague John Fillis that education and skills portfolio-holder Jayne Rear should resign – because of what County Cllr Fillis said was her “failure to act when [she] knew things were going wrong”.
However, the ruling Conservative group lined up to condemn what they said was an unwarranted – and unedifying – “personal” attack on a councillor doing her best against the backdrop of pressures that were sweeping SEND services nationwide.
The Ofsted report, published last month, concluded, amongst other things, that there were “unacceptable” delays in assessing – and annually reviewing – children’s needs to ensure they get the support they require.
County Cllr Tomlinson described the inspection findings as “deeply troubling”.
“As members of this council, we must ask ourselves, how [it] is that we allowed such a significant lapse in service to occur – where was the political oversight, where was the accountability?
“The families of children with SEND deserve better than to be met with delays, bureaucratic obstacles and poorly co-ordinated support systems. What they deserve is a council that listens to their needs, anticipates their challenges and takes prompt and effective action to address them,” he added at last Thursday’s meeting.
County Cllr Rear moved an amendment to the Labour motion, which stressed that an “action plan” had already been drawn up to address the identified failings and would be put before cabinet this week. It also noted that the NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria Integrated Care Board (ICB) was “jointly responsible” with the county council for SEND services.
The cabinet member also told the meeting at which her own future was now being debated that it was “crucial to recognise the context within which [the Ofsted] judgement was made” – and that Lancashire was not “an outlier”.
“These issues are not unique to Lancashire – they reflect broader national challenges faced by many, if not all, local area [SEND] partnerships, due to the increasing demand for specialist support.
“I’d like to assure members that I, personally, along with other colleagues, have actively been engaged in addressing the issues identified in the Ofsted report.
“We are already taking steps to streamline our assessment processes to ensure timely and accurate evaluations of children and young people with SEND. This includes increasing capacity and resources to handle the surge in requests for EHCP [education, health and care plan] assessments,” County Cllr Rear said.
However, delays in the EHCP process lay at the heart of several of the Labour group’s criticisms. The number of the plans in place in the county council area leapt by 55 percent in the space of four years to stand at 11,258 by January 2024.
New EHCPs should be issued within 20 weeks, but they also have to be reviewed annually – and a decision over whether to amend them or leave them unchanged should be taken within a month.
Rossendale West division representative Samara Barnes read out a list of children whose plans or reviews were overdue by anything from 10 to 192 weeks.
She said one parent whose son was in need of an EHCP review ahead of his move from secondary school to college was “never done”.
“In her words, ‘The transition never happened and the deadlines came and went. Even after hundreds of phone calls, emails to case workers and managers, [my] local MP, [the] ombudsman – everyone I could email at LCC – he was left without an education for 18 months.’
“Why should any parent have to try so hard to get the help they need?” County Cllr Barnes asked.
The meeting heard of school place shortages for SEND children, with offers of a place, when they were made, sometimes mired in confusion. Independent member for Nelson East Azhar Ali said: “The right hand doesn’t know what the left hand is doing. Children are being let down [and] parents are at their wits’ end.
However, Heysham division Conservative Andrew Gardiner – who told colleagues that he has a son with special needs – said the blame for poor support for SEND children often lay at the door of their school.
“Some schools will spend money on their SEND teachers, because they understand how important our children are. [But] there are some schools that basically give it lip service,” he said.
“That has to change – [and] that’s not down to you, Cllr Rear. There’s a far bigger picture in schools – and headteachers have to take a look at themselves and see what they are delivering for their children.”
Meanwhile, cabinet member for economic development and growth Aidy Riggott accused Labour of “nasty, vindictive, gutter politics” in calling for County Cllr Rear to go – adding that she was “incredibly committed to her role”.
Deputy County Hall leader Alan Vincent said the opposition had failed to acknowledge the “tsunami surge of demand within SEND services” nationwide – and were instead bent on claiming “it’s entirely Lancashire County Council’s fault”.
“Loads of other authorities are in exactly the same boat and a lot of them do worse than we do,” he said, adding that an extra £5m was being put in the SEND budget to help with EHCP delivery next year, while the authority had also invested heavily in the creation of special needs units within mainstream schools.
County Cllr Tomlinson said much of the debate could have been avoided had anyone within the ruling group had been “humble enough” simply to say sorry for what had happened – rather than seeking to shift the blame.
He added that it was “for the birds” to think that the current scrutiny regime at County Hall was sufficient to monitor the progress of the action plan – and called for a the formation of a cross-party group focused solely on that issue, of which representatives of the SEND children and families should be a part.
County Cllr Filis said he regretted if his call for her resignation had “hurt” County Cllr Rear, but that he stood by it.
The amended Conservative motion was approved by a majority, after County Cllr Fillis said the spirit of what Labour had been calling for had been entirely “negated” by it. However, chief executive Mark Wynn ruled that while the Tory amendment had “taken out the personal responsibility” in relation to County Cllr Rear, it nevertheless still recognised the “widespread failings” in SEND services.
County Cllr Rear said: “I want to assure the council and, more importantly,…families most affected that we are fully committed to rectifying the issues identified in the Ofsted report at the earliest opportunity.”
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