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Published on Tuesday 31 August 2021

Response from BCP Council and the Dorset Clinical Commissioning Group on the back of the Letter published by Ofsted following the recent local area inspection into Special Educational Needs and Disability provision in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole.

Elaine Redding, Interim Corporate Director of Children’s Services, BCP Council, said: "The Council accepts that a major transformation programme is needed locally to make services to children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) as strong and supportive as they need to be. We welcome the inspection requirements and were already working on those intensively. This is now a compelling opportunity to develop a multi-agency service and offer to children and families and to develop that improved service with children and families themselves. at the heart of it.

Sally Sandcraft, Senior Responsible Officer for SEND for Dorset CCG said, "We are very committed to our joint work to, at pace, address the areas for improvement for children and young people with special education needs, and their families. The NHS plays an important role in assessment, diagnosis, treatment and support, and the way that this is delivered in terms of timeliness, experience and outcomes needs to improve. We will continue to work with partners, young people with SEND and their families to address the issues raised in the inspection."

Councillor Nicola Greene said, "The crucial need to make improvements in SEND provision has been highlighted to us by families themselves. As a Council, we are determined to meet all the requirements set out for us by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission. SEND is a multi-agency service and we will be working with our partners in Health and Education to build a set of services to be proud of. Progress has been slower than we would have expected for a number of reasons; but our priority is to deliver a service by working together in the coming weeks and months."

A full copy of the inspection letter is available here.

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