WRITTEN EVIDENCE
SUBMITTED BY
THE NATIONAL
ASSOCIATION OF
INDEPENDENT SCHOOLS
AND NON-MAINTAINED
SPECIAL SCHOOLS
(NASS) (LOCO 010)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
NASS and its member schools would like to put on
record its caution that in embracing a more decentralised model
for public service delivery the Government does not forget the
needs of those children and young people who require low-incidence
special educational needs support, services and provision.
BACKGROUND TO
NASS
The National Association of Independent Schools and
Non-Maintained Special Schools (NASS) is a membership organisation
catering for approximately 6000 very vulnerable children and young
people. It provides information, support and training to its members
in order to benefit and advance the education of children and
young people with SEN. NASS is delighted to contribute to this
inquiry into localism.
NASS is the only national organisation representing
special schools in the voluntary and private sectors. NASS works
in partnership with key national and regional organisations and
acts as the voice for Non Maintained and Independent Special Schools
(NMISS). NASS currently represents almost 190 schools across England
and Wales.
NASS believes fundamentally in the crucial role that
is played by NMISS and the support that they provide for children
with SEN and non-maintained and independent schools in their area.
NMISS are funded by Local Authorities who pay to place pupils
for whom they have been unable to meet needs.
GENERAL POINTS
ABOUT THE
IMPACT OF
LOCALISM AGENDA
NASS schools play an important part in meeting the
objectives set out by the government for SEN as well as supporting
children achieve and develop. It should be noted, however, that
schools rely on clear policy frameworks at the national level
along with consistency around funding and planning at the local
level. NASS would, therefore, like to make the point that in embracing
a more decentralised model for public service delivery the Government
does not forgot the needs of those children and young people who
require low-incidence special educational needs support, services
and provision.
NASS schools cater for children with special needs
and disabilities classified as "low incidence". This
includes children with sensory impairments, autism spectrum conditions
and social, emotional and behavioural difficulties. Within an
individual Local Authority it is generally the case that these
needs occur at such a low incidence, one or two children per authority
in some cases, that it is not an effective use of resources to
create a specialist resource in house. It is at this point that
Local Authorities look to the Independent and Non-maintained special
school sector.
Although NASS member schools have an important role
to play in their local communities, they generally accept placements
from a large number of Local Authorities. For some schools, this
may be as few as five or six different Authorities but for some
schools, especially those catering for very low incidence needs,
this number can be as high as 45. In the past, co-operation between
Local Authorities through regional arrangements such as the Department
for Education and Skills SEN Regional Partnerships and Regional
Commissioning programmes has supported a number of efficiencies
including:
¾ Strategic
planning of low-incidence provision.
¾ Shared
monitoring of out of authority placements.
¾ Use
of a National Contract for placements in NMISS.
¾ Shared
negotiations around fees.
In 2007, savings from these actions implemented by
a group of four regions, comprising 43 authorities were estimated
to have saved in excess of £8 million.
NASS schools are already seeing an impact from the
move towards localism:
¾ Less
co-ordinated planning of the need for placements resulting in
a decrease in referrals to specialist provision and an increase
in emergency placements following mainstream placement breakdown.
¾ A proliferation
in the number of local and regional contracts being introduced.
¾ A lack
of capacity within Local Authorities to effectively monitor out
of authority placements of very vulnerable children.
The bureaucratic costs of this to schools are high.
A school dealing with 45 Local Authorities and being asked to
operate 45 different contracts needs to spend a considerable amount
of staff time in administration. When placements come on an emergency
basis across the school year it becomes increasingly difficult
for schools to plan budgets and to sustain and develop high quality
services.
NASS believes that low-incidence SEN and Disabilities
require a sub-regional, regional and even national approach, in
some cases. We are concerned that the localism agenda does not
encourage Authorities to work together, even though there is evidence
that this is the most efficient way of addressing some areas of
service provision. In a time of financial constraint, we believe
that the Government needs to maintain and develop incentives for
Local Authorities to work co-operatively on regional level to
most efficiently meet the needs of children and young people with
complex, low-incidence SEN and disabilities.
CONCLUSION
In conclusion NASS, while welcoming the localism
agenda, is concerned that the decentralisation of public service
delivery may have a detrimental impact on the services provided
to children with low incidence SEN.
As low incidence SEN is not prevalent in any single
local authority, NMISS frequently cater for vulnerable children
from across a large number of local authorities. This requires
cooperation at a sub regional and regional level to ensure efficient
and effective planning.
However, from our experience the move towards localism
is hindering the effective planning of, and referral, to specialist
provision for these vulnerable children, as well as placing addition
bureaucratic burdens on NMISS.
NASS therefore proposes that the Government ensure
mechanisms and incentives are in place for local authorities to
work collaboratively, enabling a coherent sub regional level of
planning for supporting children with low incidence SEN. From
our experience these measures would result in significant cost
savings, making SEN provision more efficient and targeted to need.
September 2010
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