This week 3 reps from Worcestershire Parent Carer Forum met with Cllr Emma Marshall (Chair of the Worcestershire County Council Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Panel) and Cllr Steve Mackay (Cabinet Member with Responsibility for Children and Families) to discuss the outcome of the recent Ofsted/CQC inspection in Worcestershire. We had a positive and fruitful meeting and a number of points and actions were agreed.
⏳ Cllr Marshall is keen to increase public participation at Scrutiny meetings and will investigate if parent carers could become scrutiny panel members. She will also seek clarification about whether members of the public can submit their questions to the panel without actually attending.
⏳ Cllr Marshall agreed to attend the IPSEA training that WPCF are about to roll out to some of the parent carer reps.
⏳ Cllr Marshall offered to receive emails from parent carers prior to scrutiny meetings to highlight questioning areas, enabling her to formulate her questions.
⏳ Cllr Marshall and Cllr MacKay confirmed they are willing to work with WPCF to understand the reality of SEND in Worcestershire better.
⏳ Cllr MacKay offered to update other councillors, furnishing them with some of the context they might currently be missing.
⏳ It was agreed to explore the possibility of Cllr Marshall, Cllr MacKay and Cllr Chambers meeting with some parent carers to hear first-hand their SEND experiences.
⏳ It was agreed that the possibility of WCC councillors undertaking SEND training should be explored.
⏳ Cllr Marshall will contact WCF senior leaders to highlight and discuss the concerns raised by WPCF.
⏳ Hazel Shaw (Co-Chair) confirmed WPCF had been invited to contribute the Priority Action Plan that the Local Area Partnership had to now develop and off the back of the Ofsted report.
We thank both councillors for their willingness to meet and we will keep you updated on the conversations!
