Boards, meetings & projects

Since the SEND Local Area Inspection by Ofsted/CQC in March 2020, just before the pandemic impacted all our lives, Family Voice Norfolk representatives have been involved in a great deal of work resulting from the Written Statement of Action that was created in response to the three areas of significant weakness that the inspection identified. You can download the whole Ofsted/CQC letter that set out the areas of weakness and other matters of concern here.

The areas identified were:

  • EHCPs – their quality and creation to specified deadlines
  • Plans and provision for young people as they move into adulthood
  • Communication and co-production with parents and carers, and with children and young people themselves

The Written Statement of Action included over a hundred actions. Family Voice representatives have been involved in hundreds of meetings and given advice on many documents to progress these actions. That initial stage of the work is coming to an end in 2022 as the revisit of Ofsted/CQC is likely to happen before the end of this year.

The focus now is on ensuring that work to improve provision for special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) continues in Norfolk. This work includes, for example, refreshing the Local Area SEND Strategy, which we helped to revise last year. It is also very important to discover whether all the work from the Written Statement of Action has had a positive effect on the lives of children and young people with SEND and their families. This is one of the many reasons why Family Voice Norfolk encourages all families with an interest in SEND to join us and make sure we hear your views on what is happening.

All of this work, of course, has been happening during a global pandemic that has affected each one of us. Children and young people with SEND are known to have been particularly impacted by schools closing, the difficulties of accessing education from home, and the affect of the pandemic on their health (including mental health) and social needs. Family Voice representatives have been involved in meetings to develop ways to improve this inequality and will continue to ensure that parent carers’ voices are heard. We know that the pandemic is not yet, in fact, over, and its effects are certainly still with us.

Family Voice ambassadors have been unable to attend face-to-face meetings until very recently but have offered a range of online Let’s talk… sessions at which professionals and parent carers could discuss key issues. Informal Check in and chat sessions have also given parent carers the chance to meet and share ideas in a relaxed setting, as well as to learn more about the work Family Voice has been doing. In 2022, our Question Time event featured ten sessions in which parent carers could ask professionals about five key topics:

  • Carers and caring
  • Short Breaks
  • SEND strategic improvement in Norfolk (with Michael Bateman)
  • SEND transport and TITAN travel training
  • SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS)

2021–22 Family Voice representation

Family Voice sends representatives to the following meetings and working groups. Please do get in touch with us if you have concerns, information or compliments about any of these subject areas. The majority of meetings with the local authority, health and voluntary services remain online, but a handful of meetings are beginning to be held in person.

  • Adult social services – Employment services
  • Adult Services – Housing and accommodation webinars
  • Carers Council Partnership meeting
  • Carer’s Passport Workshop
  • Carers Voice locality meetings
  • Child Nursing Programme
  • Children and Young Persons Mental Health (CYPMH) Alliance Executive Management Group
  • Children and Young Persons Mental Health (CYPMH) Stakeholder Group
  • Children’s Health and Integrated Commission Group (CHICG)
  • Children’s Services Partnership Recovery Group
  • Communication Technology Aids (CTA) advisory meeting
  • COVID-19 Communications meeting with parent carer groups
  • District Early Childhood Advisory Networks (DECANS)
  • Direct Payments Support Service (DPSS) advisory group
  • Early Childhood Advisory Board (Norfolk) (ECAB)
  • Early Language Forum
  • Early Years Survey review
  • Eastern Region Peer Network SEND forums
  • Eastern Region Parent Carer Forum (ERPCF) meeting
  • EHCP Quality Audit Framework meetings
  • Every Relationship Matters in Norfolk steering group
  • Families…We’ve Got This meetings
  • Green Light Champions Network
  • Home–School Transport Collaboration
  • Integrated Care Systems – Adult Services
  • Learning Disabilities Health Checks meetings
  • Learning Disabilities Partnership Board
  • Learning into Action
  • Local Area SEND Survey
  • Local Offer revision – Speech, Language and Communication web pages
  • Local Offer revision – Health section
  • Local Offer revision – Children’s Social Care section (including Short Breaks)
  • Making it Happen Strategy Oversight Group
  • Making Sense of SEND (LO) roadshows
  • Mental Health Support Teams in Schools Steering Group
  • National Network of Parent Carer Forums (NNPCF) Webinars
  • NCC Health Oversight Scrutiny Committee
  • NCHC 15-Step Challenge
  • Neuro Developmental Delay (NDD) Stakeholder Group
  • Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) Children’s Board
  • Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital (NNUH) Transitions Working Group
  • Norfolk Autism Partnership Board (NAPB)
  • NAPB – Autism Engagement working group
  • NAPB – Autism Diagnosis working Group
  • NAPB – Autism Workforce Development group
  • Norfolk Area SEND Multi-Agency (NASMA) steering group
  • Norfolk Area SEND Strategy (NASS)
  • Norfolk County Council – Carers Voice Carers Co-production meeting
  • Norfolk Children and Young People Strategic Alliance board (CYPSA)
  • Norfolk Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee (HOSC)
  • Norfolk Speech and Language Therapy (SALT) stakeholder group
  • Norman Lamb Coalition for Young People
  • Palliative Care Network
  • Parent Carers Multi-Agency Steering Group
  • Partnership Recovery Meetings (COVID-19)
  • Patient Inclusion/experience Steering Group – Norfolk Community Healthcare Trust (NCHC)
  • Preparing for Adult Life (PfAL) interviews
  • Prevention and Early Help Board
  • Provision Expected at SEN Support (PEaSS) meetings
  • Queen Elizabeth Hospital Unpaid Carers Group
  • RUSH Self Harm Pathway
  • SEN Information Report (SIR) Audit
  • SEND Communications Group
  • SEND Glossary – terms and words
  • SENDfest planning meetings
  • SEND Health Clinical Network
  • SEND Information, Advice and Support Service (SENDIASS) steering group
  • SEND Post-16 Learning Group
  • Short Breaks review meeting
  • Speech and Language Therapy Project Board
  • Transforming Care Navigators Stakeholder Group
  • Transition Working Group (Schools)
  • Virtual School SEND advisory group
  • Voluntary Sector Forum (children, young people and families) county meeting
  • Vulnerable Adolescent meetings
  • Written Statement of Action – Adult Services Catch-up meetings
  • Written Statement of Action Board meetings
  • Written Statement of Action Subgroup – Communication and Co-producton
  • Written Statement of Action Coproduction Stakeholder Group and focus groups
  • Written Statement of Action Subgroup – EHCPs
  • Written Statement of Action Subgroup – 18–25 years (Preparing for Adult Life and Transition services)
  • Written Statement of Action – SEND Post-16 Booklets
  • Young Carers Multi-agency Steering Group