To determine the council’s three year plan for allocation of the special provision capital fund.

In March 2017 the Government announced the allocation of a special provision fund for councils to support capital investment in provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities. The funding will be allocated on an annual basis over a three year period 2018-2021.

The fund will be allocated to projects to meet the council’s duty to ensure that disabled children and those with special educational needs (SEND) can access high quality provision that meets their needs, and ensure arrangements are in place for alternative provision for children outside mainstream education or missing education (e.g. excluded or ill) to receive full time education. Projects will be determined by consideration of suitability, condition and sufficiency of current provision, and prioritised based upon these criteria in accordance with the council’s Schools Capital Investment Strategy (SCIS).

That:

a.     consultation be undertaken on the following priorities aligned to the schools capital investment strategy in order to determine the spending of the £500k special provision capital grant funding to improve the quality and range of provision available to SEND children and young people with education health care plans (EHCPs):

1. Improvements to the provision for children and young people in the current ‘hospital school’;

2. Improvements to provision for pupils with social emotional mental health needs;

3. Improved provision at settings for 11-16 year olds with learning difficulties and disabilities; and

4. Improvements to resourced provision for pupils with autism.

b.     it be recommended to Council that the £500k special provision capital grant be added to the capital programme; and

c.     the director for children’s wellbeing be authorised to take all operational decisions regarding the allocation of the grant fund to an appropriate projectfollowing consultation with the cabinet members for contracts and assets and young people and children’s wellbeing and having regard to the outcome of the consultation and in accordance with the schools capital investment strategy and grant scheme criteria.

1.          An alternative option could be to reject the available funding. This would reduce the amount of capital improvement possible for provision for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) in the immediate future.