Agenda item

Report of the Director for Children’s Services. To be introduced by the Cabinet Member for Children, Families and Schools.

Cabinet approval is required to accept grant funding from the High Needs Capital Provisions Allocation (HNCPA) and approve the spend for the development of resource provisions within mainstream schools for children with SEND as part of Haringey's Safety Valve Programme.

The Leader introduced the report which sought approval from Cabinet to accept a new, additional grant from the Department for Education (DfE) for the High Needs Capital Provision Allocation (HNCPA) for 23/24, which was based on Haringey’s increased number of Education, Health and Care Plans. This increased resource included allocations of £989,429 + £1,080,833 totalling £2,070,262 for additional investment in 2024/25, and complements the funding already approved by Cabinet for Safety Valve capital schemes.

In response to questions from Cllr Emery, the following information was provided:

-       In relation to the rising numbers of children with SEND when total pupil numbers were falling, this was reflective of the national trend with better identification of children with special educational needs attributed to this change. The Council were working much more closely with partners to identify needs at a much earlier stage to allow early intervention and prevent the need for an educational healthcare plan to be developed.

-       Regarding the concentrated number of SEND cases in the west of the borough, the data was predicting that in the next three years there would be a growing number in this area in the borough. This was attributed to the increased number of transient families, but also connected to more population moves. The service had not seen a significant trend to suggest anything that required a particular focus. In conclusion, the service were seeing a rise in autism and social, emotional, mental health needs in children and these were the two areas of primary need.

-       The work to develop the short break provision was underway and consideration being given to development of two units. These were in discussion and the service would be able to provide an update at a later date.

Further to considering the exempt information,

RESOLVED:

1. To approve the acceptance of the grant from the Department of Education as detailed in this report.

2. To approve the creation of two new SEND resource provisions; capital builds which will either be new modular build on existing school site or an extension to an existing building on a school site. Project A will be approved via delegated authority for Directors' approval which will be pursuant to Contract Standing Order 9.07.1c. Project B will be pursuant to Contract Standing Order 9.07.1d (i.e. via Cabinet) to award contracts once they have been procured to suitable contractors.

3. To note that between them, the provisions will create an up to an additional 50 school places (Refer to Table One: Proposed Resource Provision) for children with autism, and young people who have education, health and care plans (EHCPs) with Autism as their primary need, and with the ability to also support those with Moderate Learning Difficulties (MLD) (see table one below), as agreed in the original Cabinet paper for the bid to the Department for Education (DfE). These form a crucial element of the capital projects within Haringey’s Safety Valve Programme. The provision will be delivered within the financial funding envelope of £2,070,262. In the event of an underspend, the team will aim to complete minor works to update and enhance Haringey’s existing

SEND provisions across the school estate.

For further background information on the range of resource provision plan, refer to:

(Appendix A Haringey Safety Valve Programme: SEND Resource Provision Cabinet

6 February 2024).

Reasons for decision

As set out in the report

Alternative options considered

Do Nothing – The High Needs Capital allocation will support the reduction of the pressure on the high needs block, which at the start of the Safety Valve programme of 31st March 2023, was £23.83m, is continuing to increase and is unsustainable. If unmitigated, this is would have increase to £77.6m by 2027/28.

As of June 2024, the deficit now stands at £10.71m further reduced from £23.83m due to payments by results driven by funding, and savings accrued through the successful delivery of projects within the Safety Vave programme to date.

Developing additional resource provision within the borough will enable children with SEND in Haringey to access high quality education provision locally within the borough they reside in and reduce the need to procure high-cost education placements outside of Haringey.