APPENDIX 1: DRAFT SPECIAL EDUCATIONAL
NEEDS (DIRECT PAYMENTS) (PILOT SCHEME) ORDER 2011
Further information from the Department for Education
Education Department officials have provided the
following responses to the questions put by the Committee:
Q. Will there be an additional resource burden
for local authorities as a result of the SI?
A. The pilot will be undertaken as part of the
wider SEN and Disability Green Paper pathfinder programme. Authorities
taking part in the programme have been given a grant (£75,000
per local authority in 2011-12, funding for 2012-13 will be confirmed
in the new year) to undertake an agreed range of activities to
test the core elements of the Green Paper including the use of
personal budgets and the value for money/cost implications of
implementing the reforms.
Q. What will be the scope of the review and
will it be carried out by the DfE?
A. The pilot will be subject to a full evaluation.
The final scope of the evaluation has yet to be decided but we
expect it to capture information about the impact and effectiveness
of direct payments, including: cost effectiveness; the processes
local authorities establish to agree, quantify and cost the services
to be delivered by direct payment; and potential barriers to delivery.
We will ensure it captures information on age, impairment and
type of need as well as take-up by different socio-economic groups.
The evaluation will be undertaken by an independent research organisation
and will form part of the wider evaluation of the Green Paper
pathfinder programme.
Q. Do you envisage any particular difficulties
around transport provision, if so how will these be managed?
A. The pilot will help us to establish any common
difficulties around transport and ways that they can be managed.
We do not envisage any particular difficulties although value
for money is likely to be a key consideration for local authorities
when deciding whether to agree to make direct payments for transport
provision.
Q. How will the Government ensure that this
project and the Department of Health personal health budget pilot
programme are fully joined up where they need to be?
A. The pilot will be undertaken as part of the
SEN and Disability Green Paper pathfinder programme. The 20 pathfinder
areas are made up of 31 local authorities and their PCT partners.
They will work together to test the use of personal budgets including
direct payments for health care (by joining the Department of
Health's Personal Budget pilot) and special educational provision
(through this pilot) alongside the development of the new Education,
Health and Social Care Plan.
The pathfinder programme is managed by a joint working
group across the two Departments, and the whole recruitment phase
to select the pathfinders and their support and evaluation teams
was a joint venture.
Q. Is there any remaining dissatisfaction
with the proposals? If so, how will you manage any risks around
this?
We recognise that there are a number of potential
issues, as well as benefits, around the use of direct payments
for special educational provision. That is why we need to trial
their use through the pilot scheme, for two years, as set out
in the draft Order. We have sought to reduce the risks, identified
by respondents to the consultation and in our discussions with
groups representing children and young people with special educational
needs and/or disabilities, through the inclusion of a number of
key safeguards:
- We are clear that the take up
of direct payments is optional. The scheme will require the local
authority to obtain the written consent of the person receiving
the direct payment, and that consent must state the agreed provision
that the payment will purchase;
- In addition, local authorities are required,
in the draft order, to provide information, advice and support
to enable families from all backgrounds to benefit from direct
payments. This includes a requirement to provide information on
independent organisations that can offer support;
- To address the concerns about impact on other
services, value for money and misuse of funds we have included
clear requirements on the local authority to consider these issues
before agreeing to any individual arrangement for direct payments.
There are further requirements for the monitoring of their use
once an arrangement has been established.
The Department will provide further advice to the
pilots on potential issues and will work with the Green Paper
pathfinder support team to address any issues that may arise,
and to share learning across the pilot. We have given a commitment
to evaluate the pilot as part of the full evaluation of the Green
Paper pathfinder programme.
Department for Education
December 2011
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