Improving Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services for children, young people and families across Derbyshire
News update – July 2025
Department for Education’s first six-month stocktake
The Derbyshire Local Area SEND Partnership has had its first six-monthly Department for Education review to check progress against its plans to improve services since it formed an independent Improvement and Assurance Board in January.
The Board was set up to address failings found in an Ofsted and Care Quality Commission inspection of SEND services last September.
The Local Area SEND Partnership, which includes the NHS, Derbyshire County Council, schools, the private and public sector and Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice - representing children and families - met with the Department for Education (DfE) in July for what’s called a ‘stocktake’ meeting, the first of its ongoing scheduled reviews.
As part of that process the Partnership is asked to stocktake evidence of progress against its Ofsted-approved Priority Impact Plan (PIP) every six months and present it to the DfE.
The DfE reviewers have now sent the Partnership a summary of the review to help it track progress and support future improvement work.
In summary they said they are assured the Partnership is making progress against its PIP and also has ‘an awareness of the challenges ahead’ with leaders ‘focused on and committed to ensuring the systems and processes are in place to begin the much-needed improvement journey.’
We know there is still much work to do but the stocktake shows the Partnership is on the right track and that work is ongoing.
What the reviewers said
The reviewers heard from all partners at the stocktake and said they ‘got a good sense of a developing Partnership with an awareness of the challenges ahead and a firm commitment from leaders to improve services at pace’.
They also acknowledged the Partnership’s commitment to ‘improving the experiences and outcomes for children and young people with SEND and their families, across Derbyshire.’
They found that evidence provided before and during the stocktake demonstrated progress in actioning the Partnership’s PIP and the six Areas for Priority Action detailed within it including:
- Strengthened partnership working
- Improved governance and oversight
- Improved leadership stability and capacity
Meanwhile, the reviewers also highlighted areas for development including:
- The need to strengthen links to support collaborative planning, quality assurance and effective risk management.
- The need to build permanent leadership to ensure sustained, long-term progress across the SEND system and ensure all partnership working groups have the right membership and clear delivery plans.
The DfE reviewers noted progress in the six Areas for Priority Action.
A key part of progress so far has been the development by partners of a strategic multi-agency countywide plan called a ‘Joint Strategic Needs Assessment’ to ‘urgently, jointly and accurately identify the needs of children and young people with SEND in the local area’ to strengthen the understanding of local population needs to support service development.
Meanwhile, the reviewers found that Partnership leaders recognise significant issues in relation to Education Health and Care Plans and are taking steps to address them which has included investment in staffing, improved communication, strengthened performance management and reviewing processes to drive improvement.
They noted this is work in progress which is ongoing.
Reviewers found progress is being made in identifying children with SEND not accessing full-time education, including those waiting for placements outside mainstream settings, which is enabling more targeted support to be put in place.
All Derbyshire schools are now engaged with the county council’s Inclusion Support Service - up from less than 50 per cent in the previous year - contributing to a reduction in exclusions and suspensions and supporting improved educational outcomes.
The reviewers acknowledged a stronger ‘youth voice’ across the partnership and noted closer collaboration with the Derbyshire Parent Carer Voice parents’ participation charity which is supporting the development of effective co-working between services and families.
And they noted that health leaders are working collaboratively to address waiting times for community paediatric, neurodevelopmental and mental health assessments and support, while also ensuring services are designed around the needs and experiences of children, young people.
The reviewers concluded that they were assured the Partnership is making progress against its PIP and also has ‘an awareness of the challenges ahead’ with leaders ‘focused on and committed to ensuring the systems and processes are in place to begin the much-needed improvement journey.’
They said progress and preparation ‘now needs to turn into delivery and improved outcomes - including importantly children and their families feeling the difference – over the next six months.’
The DfE will continue to review progress against each Area of Priority Action and improvement against the PIP and the next review will take place in January 2026.
See the DfE stocktake outcome letter in full here: Derbyshire post-stocktake meeting letter July 25