Message from the independent chair of the improvement board, Dame Christine Lenehan

I am really pleased to introduce myself to you and tell you more about my role chairing Nottinghamshire’s Improvement Board for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Who am I?

I have worked with disabled children and children with special educational needs, and their families for over 40 years. I started as a volunteer working in what were then called ‘long stay mental handicap hospitals’ in the 1970s and then worked with children in residential community provision. In 1980 I qualified as a Social Worker and spent nearly 20 years working with families and children, developing services to meet their needs and developing strong links with health and education services. For the last 23 years, I have been at the Council for Disabled Children, part of the National Children’s Bureau. My role here means that I work with parents and children regularly, with local area staff working in schools, health, social care, and with national government and inspectorates. My goal is to work with everyone to understand the challenges facing the system and work in partnership to look at how we overcome them.

What am I doing in Notts?

Following the inspection result of systemic failings, Nottinghamshire County Council and its Integrated Care Board were required to set up an Improvement Board to ensure that the challenges identified were dealt with and improvement happened. As part of this process, I agreed to take up the role as Independent Chair.

This means that I set the agenda for the Board and ensure all the processes representing improvement are presented monthly. Nottinghamshire County Council and its Integrated Care Board have 18 months to convince the inspectors that things are changing, and outcomes will be better.

So what does this mean in practice?

It means I want to be confident that parents and carers and young people are engaged, and know about changes taking place and can feed into them.

It means that I have been asking schools what roles they can play in supporting pupils.

It means that I have asked us to look at all of the evidence about the two key areas of challenge, ensuring timely Education, Health and Care Plans and waiting times for community therapy services.

My role is not to gather the evidence but to check with the board that we are on the right track and offer support and challenge.

The Board isn’t a legal process, we are not calling ‘witnesses’ but working with key leaders in health, education and care services, alongside parent carers and elected representatives to make sure improvement is taking place.

What happens next?

The Boards for October, November and December will be chaired by Deborah Glassbrook, who is an experienced professional with a long track record of working in services at the most senior level and supporting local areas to improve. I will be back in January, to continue the improvement journey.

Staying engaged

As part of the process, the Board issues a stakeholder briefing after every meeting to let you know what we have been looking at. The last board looked at schools, the next one looks at the timeliness of Education, Health and Care plans.

We are also hoping to come out and meet some of you in the New Year, so do look out for details on the SEND area of Nottinghamshire County Council’s website.

Best wishes

Christine