Last updated:

30th July 2026

Strategic SEND Partnership Board minutes summary - 20 May 2026

Attendance

  • Emma Cockerell (chair) Director, Children's Services, Wokingham Borough Council (WBC)
  • Alice Bateman Head of Complex Care and Support Service, Adult Social Care, WBC
  • Carey Tulloch Head of Strategic Commissioning and Transformation, WBC
  • Charlotte Seymour Strategic Project Support Officer, WBC
  • Councillor Prue Bray Deputy Leader and Executive Councillor for Children's Services, WBC
  • David Maycock Co-headteacher, Addington School
  • Emma Shrimpton Head of Service - SEND Strategy and Programmes
  • Hayley Rees Service Director, Strategy, Transformation and Commissioning, WBC
  • Jamie Conran Acting Service Director SEND & Inclusion, WBC
  • Jonathan Wilding Head of Service, Best Start in Life, WBC
  • Joolz Scarlett CEO, Ascendancy Partnership Trust
  • Karen Cridland Director for Children, Family and All Age Services, Berkshire Health Foundation Trust
  • Kelli Scott Head of Service, Children with Disabilities, Early Help and Prevention Youth Justice Service, WBC
  • Lajla Johansson Head of All-age Learning Disability and Neuro-Divergence and SEND 0-25, NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board
  • Lynda Wood Co-headteacher, Addington School
  • Matthew Tait NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board
  • Ming Zhang Service Director of Education, WBC
  • Miranda Walcott Designated Clinical Officer for SEND, NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board
  • Peter Griffiths Headteacher, St Crispin’s School
  • Stephanie Holding Headteacher, Wescott Infant School
  • Terri Walsh Joint CEO, SEND Voices Wokingham (parent carer forum) 
  • Zoe Woods Head of Palliative and End of Life Care (PEoLC) and Community Services, Thames Valley Integrated Care Board

Apologies

  • Lisa Evans Service Director Adult Social Care (Operations), WBC
  • Louise Noble Service Director, NHS Children, Families and All-age Services (Children & Young Peoples Mental Health Services, All-age Eating Disorders Services and Services for People with a Learning Disability)
  • Mark McCurrie SEND Advisor, Department for Education
  • Niki Cartwright Director of Vulnerable People’s Services, NHS Thames Valley Integrated Care Board
  • Sarah Clarke Joint CEO, SEND Voices Wokingham (parent carer forum)

Summary of minutes

Actions from March’s meeting

  • Planning a joint health and council meeting about Family Hub planning: Work is continuing through neighbourhood/place agenda. An additional children's planning session is being organised, and a date will be confirmed soon.
  • Briefing the council on Mental Health Support Teams (MHSTs): Funding allocation has now been received. The ICB is working with NHS England, and a further update will be shared at the next Board meeting.
  • Niki Cartwright to add explanation of commissioning and pathways to the Parent Carer Forum meeting agenda: This action has been closed. Information for families will now be shared through the wider SEND Reform communications programme.
  • Reviewing mediation and tribunal data: Reform plan work has produced a sharper, current dataset. Next step is to develop clear information for families as part of wider communications approach.

Local Area SEND Inspection Report

The SEND inspection report was published on 18 May, and work is underway on the Priority Action Plan.

Since the inspection, the partnership has:

  • met with families, young people, schools and colleges to gather feedback
  • shared information across local authority, health and education services
  • developed materials to help young people understand the findings

The Partnership Board will continue to oversee progress, provide challenge and support, and help ensure all partners work together to improve SEND services.

Action

The ICB will confirm how the inspection report has been shared with Royal Berkshire Foundation Trust (RBFT) and primary care services.

Partnership governance update

Alison Hurley has been appointed as the new Independent Chair of the SEND Partnership.

The Board agreed to:

  • change the Partnership Board into the SEND Area Improvement Board
  • meet monthly
  • oversee both the SEND Reform Plan and Priority Action Plan
  • review the SEND Assurance Board to make sure governance arrangements are aligned

These changes will help the partnership monitor progress closely and prepare for future national SEND monitoring.

Local area SEND reform plan

The draft SEND Reform Plan was submitted on time and is now awaiting feedback from the Department for Education (DfE) and NHS England.

The next stage will include partnership workshops to:

  • agree the overall vision for change
  • review success measures
  • finalise the plan

The Board recognised the strong partnership working involved in developing the draft plan and thanked partners for their contribution.

Update from SEND Assurance Board

The Board reviewed progress on Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs), annual reviews and therapy services.

EHCPs and annual reviews
  • EHCP timeliness has improved and is now around 70%, but delays remain across several services involved in assessments.
  • Annual review performance has improved, although families and schools continue to report delays and differences in quality.
  • The Board agreed that annual reviews should focus on children's outcomes and changing needs, not just completing a process.

A new task and finish group will be set up with schools and the Parent Carer Forum to improve the quality and timeliness of annual reviews.

Quality assurance
  • The quality assurance framework is being updated to place greater focus on children's experiences, family feedback and how support is delivered in practice.
  • The partnership is also exploring digital solutions to improve tracking and oversight.
Therapy services and EHCP provision
  • Partners discussed concerns that some children are not receiving all the support set out in their EHCPs, particularly where therapy services have long waiting times.
  • More work is needed to understand the scale of the issue and develop a joined-up approach across the partnership.

The Board also noted that workforce shortages remain a challenge and that a joint SEND risk register is being developed to support ongoing improvement work.

Children’s Joint Strategic Needs Assessment (JSNA)

Good progress is being made on the Children and Young People's Needs Assessment (JSNA), with partners working together to develop and review the information it includes.

Some additional health information is still needed, and further work with partners will take place over the coming months.

The JSNA is expected to be published in September 2026. It will help local services use evidence and data to plan support, set priorities and make decisions about resources for children and young people.

The Board thanked all partners for their contributions to this work.

Health updates

Community Therapies Review

The Board received an update on the Berkshire West Community Therapies Review and the work underway to develop future therapy services.

Wheelchair Recovery Plan

The Board reviewed progress on the wheelchair recovery plan. While some improvements have been made, recovery is still at an early stage. Members agreed that reporting should be strengthened to better show progress and include feedback from families.

Action

Further work will take place to improve reporting and establish clear measures of progress.

Other updates

Updates on Integrated Care Board (ICB) activity and the SEND data dashboard were not discussed due to time constraints and will be considered at a future meeting.

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