Agenda item

The Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Education and Skills reminded the Panel of the lengthy review process that had been undertaken on the provision of  Medical Education within the County, of which the Panel had received several  progress reports. The findings and proposals were due to be considered at Cabinet on 18 March, and if approval was gained, the next steps would be taken towards finalising the journey leading to a formal commissioning process taking place later this year.  The Director of Education and Early Help outlined the Report which the Panel had before them and commented how pleased she had been with the way the review was carried out and the engagement of health colleagues in the process.

The Assistant Director, SEND and Vulnerable Learners highlighted some key aspects of her presentation on the medical education pathway proposal and details of the proposed multi-agency preventative approach, as follows:

·         A recap of the timeline of activity since January 2020 when approval was given for a multi-agency co-produced review and design of medical education provision. During the year workshops had been held drawing together the stakeholder feedback and putting forward proposals for consideration.

·         A specific change which the Assistant Director wished to draw the Panel’s attention to, was that following consultation with the HWHCT, the idea of an Outreach role to support the early stages of the pathway, had now been altered to a Liaison role. The exact details of this role, for instance how it would dovetail with the existing teams supporting families, was to be determined.

·         The Panel was informed that with 80% of the Medical Education Team (MET) students identified as having anxiety issues, the Clinical Commissioning Group (CCG) were now providing timely training for all schools to support them in their role. From October 2021, Mental Health Support teams would also be working directly in some schools to provide additional specialist capacity.

·         The Child and Adolescent Mental Health Service (CAMHS) and the CCG had agreed to be members of the Multi-agency Assessment and Review Panel. In preparation for the above, CAMHS had agreed to revise their triage and assessment considerations for their entry criteria for Tier 2 and 3, to review the impact of a young person’s mental health on their ability to access education and the necessary support required to manage that.

·         The CCG had agreed to seek additional funding options to improve the timeliness of support and outcomes for children and young people with autism.

·         The overall funding basis for the provision of medical education had been looked at in detail. It was necessary to support a wider pathway being developed and to ensure a broad and balanced curriculum was provided for learners, the latter being an issue raised by learners during the stakeholder consultation. This had been raised at the Schools Forum which had been supportive of the need to improve the provision to the MET. The proposed new funding arrangements would mean that in addition to the current funding arrangements, the MET would additionally gain from schools, 80% of the notional £6k special education needs funding and 100% of the pupil premium grant for each child.

·         If proposals were approved by Cabinet, the next steps would involve a soft marketing testing of education providers, then stakeholder consultation on the policy approach. The formal process for seeking an education provider would take place in the Autumn of this year, with the service expected to commence in September 2022.

·         It was highlighted that the new Medical education service provider would be required to be separately registered as a DfE registered provider, with the rationale for this being set out in the report.

Members were pleased that the review had been carried out in such a careful and considered manner to ensure that the best way forward would be achieved for this vulnerable group of young people. They were also supportive of the new provider being registered with the DfE which would ensure that external quality control and scrutiny would be provided.

Members made a number of comments and raised questions, which were responded to as follows:

·         In response to the issue of the pathway to the MET being frustrated by the difficulty in obtaining an appointment at CAMHS, the Assistant Director explained that the priority was to ensure that many children’s needs were met earlier without the need for an appointment with CAMHS, if this was not deemed necessary. Under the guidance of the Review and Assessment Panel a Liaison person would be able to gain clarity and establish what the appropriate support should be for a child, with various possible routes considered for this to be implemented. The option for an appointment with the specialist CAMHS service would still be available where this was deemed appropriate.

·         The Mental Health support teams would be working in the 3 areas that were specifically identified as part of the Government’s bid criteria. Although the work would be focussed on these areas, it was anticipated that the learning acquired through this process would be able to be shared across the county. In addition, going forward, as the Government identified good practice from this initiative, it was hoped that this would also be able to be shared with all schools.

·         A Member commented that the co-location of the MET with the Pupil Referral Unit (PRU) on the same site in Kidderminster had not been appropriate and therefore the location chosen for the new MET provision would be crucial. She also stressed that historically the buildings used for the MET in her area had been sub-standard and that it should be ensured that good quality buildings were used for this new provision. The Panel would keep an eye on the proposed locations going forward.

·         Whilst supportive of the close working with health services, a Member expressed some concern about the pressure being placed on mainstream schools. The Assistant Director assured the Panel that schools had given their full backing to the model and that they were working to equip schools with the necessary tools, guidance and training to be able to maintain children successfully, with some schools already successfully doing this. Schools were very keen that they should take the lead role to guide the multi-agency planning process and the new liaison role being created would provide the additional support where needed, for instance where there were complex cases.

·         The details of the funding modelling which had been carefully worked out were set out in the Cabinet report. It would ensure that the individual funding which was expected to provide education and support for an individual child, was being allocated to the setting where they were currently based, in order for this to take place. The extra funding for the MET would help to ensure a broader, richer curriculum for those students.

The Chairman thanked the Cabinet Member, the Director and Assistant Director for their contributions to the meeting.