• WE write following publication of the report into special educational needs and disability, SEND, capacity and inclusiveness at Camden Council scrutiny committee.

We urge parents and carers who are struggling with the system to get in touch with organised services who are there to help.

Parents and carers can contact SENDIASS, the Special Educational Needs and Disabilities Information Advice and Support Service, who independently represent parents at the council and at schools, or the Camden Special Parent Forum which is funded by the Department for Education.

Details of these are below.

The report rightly points out that overall the system is broken, nationally and in Camden.

In Camden, the council, schools and parent carers have all been working incredibly hard to make it work but the dysfunctional, discriminatory system created by the coalition government has finally come to a head. This is evidenced by the shocking statistic that the average wait for an NHS autism diagnosis in Camden is almost two years.

The council have written to the Integrated Care Board responsible for this demanding to know what they will do to get this number down. There are further uncomfortable areas of the report.

Getting information and guidance is challenging, inconsistencies in the system are having negative impacts, and there is a lack of specialist support for children but also for parent carers.

And overall, the funding available is chronically short of what is needed.

The council recognises these issues and has committed to work better with schools, parents and carers and have been working on transforming the team to help parent carers and schools.

Aside from the very good recommendations the report has made for the council, it also sets out a series of asks of the government.

That they should: launch a national consultation on creating a fully inclusive curriculum, immediately undertake a review of post 16 provision, completely review the Children and Families Act 2014 and, within the very difficult financial situation the new government has inherited, do its best to increase funding for specialist school provision.

The council very much welcomes the report and thanks the authors, the scrutiny panel and those who contributed to the research behind it. We look forward to the next steps.

— Camden Parent Carer Forum: https://www.kids.org.uk/services/camden-special-parents-forum/

— SENDIASS: https://sendiasscamden.co.uk/about/

CLLR MARCUS BOYLAND
Cabinet Member for Best Start for Children and Families

CLLR SYLVIA McNAMARA
Lead report author, LBC CSF Scrutiny Committee