Issue - meetings

To approve as a correct record the minutes of the meeting of 17 January 2019.

RESOLVED that the minutes of the meeting of the Forum held on 17 January 2019 be approved and signed by the Chairman as a correct record.

The Forum questioned whether the Council had a proposal regarding SEN support and alternative provision for vulnerable young people. It was explained that the Council intended to implement a strategy proposal but had not been able to due to a lack of money. The Council had been waiting for the outcome of the bid to the DfE and hoped that this would have solved a lot of the issues. The bid being unsuccessful had hindered that process. Regarding alternative provision, meetings had been set for consultation on this but had been delayed due to sickness of the specialist engaged for this purpose. In summary, this proposal has been a work in progress but it was hoped that a proposal could be made soon. The Forum expressed regret that this has been ongoing for such a long time and requested that a date be set for sharing this proposal.

Arising also from minute 79 regarding the first phase of the HNB pilot scheme, Jackie Ross advised that the Hubs were involved in identifying the specific needs of the children and young people discussed using an evidence-based model. It was expected that the findings from this would be detailed in a report which would be submitted to the Forum at the end of term. Jackie Ross updated that four meetings in schools had already taken place and it had been encouraging to see the effort the schools had put in to meet these high needs without generating a high cost, having spent approximately £12,000 so far.

The actions arising from minute 80 and 81 were to be covered in Items 4 and 6 respectively.