Agenda and minutes

To receive any declaration of interest by any Member or Officer in respect of any item of business.

No declaration of interest was received.

To present the minutes of the previous meeting of the SEN Joint-Committee held on 24th June, 2016.

The minutes of the previous meeting of the Special Educational Needs Joint Committee held on 24 June, 2016 were presented and confirmed as correct.

To update the Joint-Committee on the SEN Joint-Committee’s final audited accounts for 2015/16 and the External Auditor’s report on the financial statements.

It was reported that the External Auditor did not have any significant changes to report with regard to the Joint Committee’s accounts and therefore there was no reason to re-submit them to the meeting today.

It was resolved to accept and note the information.

To receive an update on the new arrangements for ALN and Inclusion Services in Gwynedd and Ynys Môn.

The attached report includes the following documentation:

·        Report to Gwynedd Cabinet on 13 September, 2016

·        Report to Anglesey’s Executive on 19 September, 2016

·        Governance Structure – Appendix 1

·        Executive Summary of Gwynedd and Anglesey Councils’ Strategy for ALN and Inclusion – Appendix 2

·        Gwynedd and Anglesey ALN and Inclusion Strategy – Appendix 3

Documentation relating to Gwynedd and Anglesey’s Additional Learning Needs and Inclusion Strategy was presented as it had been presented to the Gwynedd Council Cabinet in its meeting on 13 September, 2016 and the Isle of Anglesey Executive in its meeting on 19 September 2016.

The Gwynedd Council Senior Inclusion Manager reported that the Gwynedd and Anglesey ALN and Inclusion Strategy had been subjected to the democratic processes of both counties and had been approved by the Gwynedd Council Cabinet and Isle of Anglesey County Council Executive in their meetings held earlier in the month.  As a result, work can now start on implementing the strategy in both counties and the discussions that have taken place hitherto will now focus on implementation.   Further agreement has been reached with regard to 14 different services covering a number of areas across additional learning needs and inclusion which will be consolidated under the Strategy.  The new ALN and Inclusion Service will be hosted by Gwynedd Council but both councils will monitor the provision through ALN&I monitoring boards reporting to the Gwynedd and Anglesey Education Partnerships Executive Board which will in turn feed into both counties’ scrutiny procedures and then the Cabinet in relation to Gwynedd and the Executive in relation to Anglesey.

The Officer said that the governance model being proposed is relatively complex (Appendix 1 in the documentation) and that further fine tuning is needed to ensure that the voice of elected members is heard sufficiently throughout the structure, particularly with regard to the quality of the provision.  The next step will be to write to the Joint Committee’s staff and staff of both the individual authorities who are involved in the areas under consideration to formally inform them of the advent of the new arrangements that will replace the present Joint Committee establishment and the jobs therein with a consultation period with staff to follow therefrom.  Therefore, it is possible that elements of the Strategy will change as a result of that process.

Amongst the main drivers of the new strategy has been the need to strengthen the monitoring and scrutiny arrangements of the additional learning needs and inclusion services across both counties.  They are expensive provisions and the value of the provisions needs to be demonstrated more clearly, as well as the difference they make to those receiving the services and the impact they have on the children’s progress.  The new system will also have a stronger element of accountability.  Additionally, the strategy addresses the new requirements in the wake of the Additional Learning Needs Measure and the Education Tribunal (Wales).

The Chair referred to a preliminary meeting that she and the Vice-Chair had attended prior to the Joint Committee’s formal meeting and said that the meeting had highlighted some considerations that she wanted to bring to the Joint Committee’s attention and for which she sought its support.  She reported on the main issues as follows -

•           That further attention should be given to strengthening the governance model and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

Friday, 18 November, 2016 in Caernarfon at 10:30 a.m.