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Special Educational Needs (SEN)

Internal Consultancy: Special Educational Needs - Bureaucracy Project [PDF 691KB, 19 pages] summary report is now available.

Scope

DfES commissioned the Cabinet Office's Better Regulation Executive to conduct collaboratively an incisive investigation to identify the root causes of bureaucracy affecting the delivery of SEN services by frontline staff. The project's objectives were to:

• Focus on streamlining the paperwork and procedures surrounding the implementation of SEN requirements at the front line;
• Identify the causes of excessive bureaucracy or approaches that could be simplified and to propose the most suitable solutions for reducing or removing those bureaucratic burdens; and
• Help free up resources through better use of staff time, so that frontline staff could better target and improve outcomes for those receiving SEN services.

Background

A consistent theme emerging from recent studies (Making a Difference: Second Schools Report, and Special Education Needs: A Mainstream Issue) is the apparent accumulation of bureaucratic burdens that have evolved around SEN procedures. These can impede the delivery of the service and lead to variable patterns of support being provided.

Approach

The project commenced in December 2003 and was completed in April 2004.

Group sessions, face-to-face meetings, and telephone interviews were conducted with specific stakeholders and frontline staff. Two workshops also took place, involving Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCOs), Local Education Authorities (LEAs) and professional bodies. In addition, two questionnaires targeting LEAs and SEN professionals were placed on the Cabinet Office's Public Sector Team's (PST) website. Over 100 staff from LEAs and schools were interviewed and 120 questionnaire responses were received.

A Project Advisory Panel drawn from LEA':s schools and representative organisations was established. Together with the interest and contributions from the independent Implementation Review Unit (IRU), these expert members played an important role in helping the project team refine the solutions aimed at delivering practical changes.

Key Achievements

Thirty-four recommendations were presented addressing bureaucratic issues. The key recommendations are aimed at:

1. Removing duplication and streamlining processes, such as -
• LAs reducing the demand for information already held in their own systems and only requesting updated information;
• DfES reviewing the use of the different plans for children with the aim of consolidating and integrating into a single child plan.
2. Facilitating information sharing and closer working, such as -
• Providing clear guidance on data protection, confidentiality and sharing of information between partner agencies;
• Improving the co-ordination of external support, assessments and transition arrangements.
3. Providing clarity of roles and expectations such as -
• Ensuring all SEN funding is clear and transparent for schools and requires minimal paper based evidence for its allocation;
• Providing guidance and training to school governors and senior managers on effective monitoring and on clear and specific reporting of SEN outcomes to parents.

Next steps

Responsibility for the delivery rests with all stakeholders including professional bodies and central government. Several of the recommended actions are reflected within the scope of 'Removing Barriers to Achievement', and are therefore already part of the programme of work being taken forward by the DfES. Others are additional to the strategy and DfES will take the necessary actions to build them into their future work programme.

The National Association of Head Teachers have taken a keen interest in the aspirations of the DfES SEN Strategy, an important element of which is the reduction of bureaucracy associated with the implementation of SEN. PST was therefore invited to share the report findings at the NAHT Special Educational Needs Conference in November 2004.

For further enquires or information please contact Public Sector Team at psinfo@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk