Freedom of information response

1.    Please complete the table below giving details of the budgeted and actual spend for specialist education services for deaf/hearing impaired children in 2023/24 and budgeted spend for 2024/25.

What was your actual spend for 2023/24? If this was different to your budgeted spend, please explain why.    2024/25
budgeted spend    If there is a budget change for 2024/25, please explain and indicate how this change will improve quality of provision for deaf children. (Please provide all associated documentation about the corresponding changes).

Net budget (£) (i.e. budget allocation to the service)            
Gross budget (£) (i.e. budget allocation plus any additional income generated or expected to be generated)            

2.    What services does the budgeted spend include for 2024/25? 

1.    Please complete the table below. Give details of budgeted staffing levels in the peripatetic specialist education service for deaf/hearing impaired children in 2024/25.  If any of the posts include a combination of management and service delivery roles or if staff work flexibly across roles, please ensure the approximate time spent on each is accurately divided between rows 1a) to d) and section 5 and are expressed as a full time equivalent (fte). 
If your peripatetic team is delegated to/hosted by a school or private provider as a whole, please treat it as a central service.
    Total number of substantive posts (fte) in place on 
1 April 2024    Of the total number of posts (fte) in column one, how many were vacant on 1 April 2024?
    If you have increased/ decreased fte since April 2023, is this:
•    movement between RP and Peri 
•    new/ additional fte
•    a reduction in fte.    Is there a current freeze on recruitment?

Yes/No    Please share any workforce plans for 2024/25:  
•    recruitment plans and timescales
•    succession planning for any staff leaving
•    temporary backfill arrangements and when these will end
•    the reason for any deletion of posts
•    any other anticipated changes in workforce
•    any flexible working between peri and RP

a)    Is the service led by a QToD? Yes/No. 

If no who provides strategic leadership of the service?    Please state:     Any further comments:
b)    Service manager provided by a QToD (fte) (e.g. Lead ToD, Head of Service etc.) – not including hours spent on direct service delivery.
                    Any further comments:
c)    Specialist Teachers of the Deaf involved in direct peripatetic service delivery – not including time spent on team management.
                
    Any further comments:
d)    Specialist support staff (not including admin).                     Please list the range of roles in post e.g. Deaf Instructor, CSW, LSA, Family Support Worker, Technician, SLT(employed):

e)    Provision of BSL    What levels of BSL provision are available within the service (fte)?    Please provide any further comments
    Level 1 (or equivalent)        
    Level 2 (or equivalent)        
    Level 3 (or equivalent)        
    Level 4 (or equivalent)        
    Level 6 (or equivalent)        
    BSL first language        
Professional supervision    Who has responsibility for the professional supervision/oversight of ToDs’ work?        

1.    Reviews of special or additional needs provision (not including any routine reviews by inspection bodies):

Were there any reviews of special or additional needs services (including RP, deaf service specific) which included deaf education in 2023/24 or will there be in 2024/25?                         
                                                      Yes or No    Is this ongoing? (Yes or No)
    When will this review take place?
    Has it concluded, if so when?
2023/24    
            
2024/25    
            
Please tell us about the review:
Brief outline of potential changes and how any proposals/outcomes will improve the provision for deaf children. 
    
For any planned or ongoing review, what is the timescale planned for this review:
•    relevant dates planned by the local authority including dates of all key stages and activities planned.
•    what stages of the review have been completed and what stages are still to be undertaken.
    
Was there or will there be, consultation and co-production activities? (Yes/No/Don’t know)
    
Was there or will there be, a copy of the terms of reference for this review? (Yes/No/Don’t know)
    
Any links to documentation relating to this review.
    

1.    Do you provide funding for parents of deaf children to access sign language training? [YES/NO]

If YES, which levels do you fund and to what extent? (tick all that apply)

        Fully funded; no cost to the family    Partially funded; partial cost to the family    Not funded; family pays the full amount themselves
A    Basic sign language courses not leading to a qualification (e.g. baby sign, or informal BSL course)             
B    BSL level 1 (or equivalent)            
C    BSL level 2 (or equivalent)            
D    BSL level 3 or higher (or equivalent)            

1a. If you’ve said yes to any box in the Row A, please explain what this course is.
    

2.    If you fund sign language courses to families in your area, please indicate in the table below how frequently these opportunities are available to families in your area.

    Not applicable – we do not fund     On demand or at least weekly    At least monthly     At least termly     At least once a year
The National Deaf Children’s Society Family Sign Language course                      
Other courses supporting the use of sign language specifically in a family context                     
A course that focused on teaching of BSL but without necessarily leading to any of the below qualifications                     
A course that leads to a BSL level 1 qualification                     
A course that leads to a BSL level 2 qualification                     
A course that leads to a BSL level 3 or higher qualification                     
Other                     

3.    Do you support families to learn sign language in any other way e.g. funding from nonprofits/deaf children’s societies/charities? Yes/No – if yes please provide information

If you don’t have any resource provisions, please move to question 3 of this section.
1.    Please complete the table below. Give details of budgeted staffing levels for all of your resource provisions (central and delegated) in 2024/25. If any of the posts include a combination of management and service delivery roles or if staff work flexibly across roles, please ensure the approximate time spent on each is accurately divided between rows 1a) to 1d) and are expressed as a full time equivalent (fte). If you have more than four resource provisions, please use the continuation form at Appendix 1. DO NOT INCLUDE SCHOOLS FOR THE DEAF.

We use the term ‘resource provision’ to include all schools with any specialist resource provision, base or unit specifically for deaf children. If you do not hold information about staffing in any of the resource provisions in your area, please either gather this information from the schools in question or ask for this information from the relevant person responsible for strategic oversight of SEND provision and/or placements in specialist provision in your local authority. Please incorporate this information into your response back to us.

    Resource Provision (1)    Resource Provision (2)    Resource Provision (3)    Resource Provision (4)
Name of School and whether they are:
Primary (with or without EY provision)
Secondary (with or without post 16 provision)
                
Central or delegated                
Is there a service level agreement in place between the school and the local authority on the operation of the resource provision”? Yes/No
If no, what is in place instead, regarding the operation of the provision?                
Is the RP led by a QToD? Yes/No. 
If no who provides strategic leadership of the RP e.g. Head of SEND/ASN/ALN, SENCo/ALNCo/ASN Co-ordinator, CSW/HLTA?                
Number of places in total for deaf children                
Number of children in place at 1 April 24                
Is it anticipated that these numbers will increase/decrease in Sept 24 and to what?                
Staffing numbers - Give details of budgeted staffing levels for substantive posts (fte) in your resource provisions in place on 1 April 2024.
a)    RP lead (fte) provided by a QToD not including hours spent on direct service delivery    Substantive                 
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
b)    QToD (fte) - direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
c)    ToD in training (fte) – direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
d)    Working as a ToD, not qualified or in training (fte) - direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
e)    Specialist support staff (not including admin).    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
    Please list the range of roles in the RP                
Do QToDs/RP staff cover non-funded dcyp who attend the school or do peri staff deliver on site?                
Are QToDs involved in dcyp annual reviews/ planning meetings/ multi-agency meetings? If not, who is involved?                
If BSL provision, what levels of BSL provision are available within the school (fte)?    Level 1 (or equivalent)                
    Level 2 (or equivalent)                
    Level 3 (or equivalent)                
    Level 4 (or equivalent)                
    Level 6 (or equivalent)                
    BSL first language                
What is the main communication approach used in the Resource Provision?    BSL    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
    Aural    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
    Total communication    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
Professional supervision    Who has responsibility for the professional supervision/ oversight of ToDs’ work?                

2.    Please provide us with any further information about your Resource Provisions e.g. any workforce plans for 2024/25, any freeze on recruitment, any movement between peri and RP staff etc

3.    If you do not have a resource provision in your authority, please tell us how you are meeting the needs of those children with higher/ more complex needs?

Access to resource provision in another local authority      Please describe:
Enhanced peripatetic offer    Please describe:
Pathway to a specialist school for deaf children    Please describe:
Other    Please describe:

1.    Please use the box below to provide any further information about education services for deaf children in your area (including any changes to commissioning services).

Thank you for completing this information request.  If you have any questions, please email [email protected].

APPENDIX 1

RESOURCE PROVISION (RP) INFORMATION (CENTRALLY MANAGED AND/OR DELEGATED)
    Resource Provision (5)    Resource Provision (6)    Resource Provision (7)    Resource Provision (8)
Name of School and whether they are:
Primary (with or without EY provision)
Secondary (with or without post 16 provision)
                
Central or delegated                
Is there a service level agreement in place between the school and the local authority on the operation of the resource provision”? Yes/No
If no, what is in place instead, regarding the operation of the provision?                
Is the RP led by a QToD? Yes/No. 
If no who provides strategic leadership of the RP e.g. Head of SEND/ASN/ALN, SENCo/ALNCo/ASN Co-ordinator, CSW/HLTA?                
Number of places in total for deaf children                
Number of children in place at 1 April 24                
Is it anticipated that these numbers will increase/decrease in Sept 24 and to what?                
Staffing numbers - Give details of budgeted staffing levels for substantive posts (fte) in your resource provisions in place on 1 April 2024.
f)    RP lead (fte) provided by a QToD not including hours spent on direct service delivery    Substantive                 
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
g)    QToD (fte) - direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
h)    ToD in training (fte) – direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
i)    Working as a ToD, not qualified or in training (fte) - direct service delivery – not including time spent on team management.    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
j)    Specialist support staff (not including admin).    Substantive                
    Vacancies (of the substantive)                
    Please list the range of roles in the RP                
Do QToDs/RP staff cover non-funded dcyp who attend the school or do peri staff deliver on site?                
Are QToDs involved in dcyp annual reviews/ planning meetings/ multi-agency meetings? If not who is involved?                
If BSL provision, what levels of BSL provision are available within the school (fte)?    Level 1 (or equivalent)                
    Level 2 (or equivalent)                
    Level 3 (or equivalent)                
    Level 4 (or equivalent)                
    Level 6 (or equivalent)                
    BSL first language                
What is the main communication approach used in the Resource Provision?    BSL    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
    Aural    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
    Total communication    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No    Yes/No
Professional supervision    Who has responsibility for the professional supervision/ oversight of ToDs’ work?