AN inspection into services for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) has found services are improving but found faults in autism provision.

A joint team from Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission reviewed education, health and care services provided across County Durham in January this year.

After assessing services and receiving feedback from more than 400 parents and carers, they found that organisations in the county have made progress in improving services since the inspectors’ last visit in January 2018 when some concerns were raised.

While the inspectors’ report highlights the range of improvements that have been made since their last visit, it also identifies areas where work is still needed.

It states the council and Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs) have not yet fully achieved their objective of improving understanding and awareness of SEND at every level.

The inspectors also found that children and young people and their families continue to have very different experiences at schools and with individual health and social care services, with the quality of health advice remaining too variable and the quality of education, health and care assessments suffering from a lack of participation of some health professionals.

The report identifies that there are gaps in commissioned support following autism assessment but recognises that leaders from all organisations are aware that provision needs to be strengthened.

The SEND strategic partnership is now considering the report and is working on a new action plan to address the areas of further improvement identified in the inspection findings and from feedback from families.

However, the report praised Durham County Council and health services for their commitment to involving children, young people and their families in shaping services, with this work “contributing strongly” to improvement in SEND arrangements.

Councillor Olwyn Gunn, Durham County Council’s Cabinet member for children and young people’s services, said: “Working closely with our partners across education, health and care, we’ve really focused on addressing the issues raised in the 2018 inspection and I am pleased that these efforts have been recognised by the inspectors.

“Our Local Offer website, for example, which provides a wealth of information for the families of children and young people with SEND and offers a first point of contact for many people has seen significant improvements over the past two years.

“Children, young people and their families have played in key role in shaping the changes that have been made and this is clearly acknowledged within the report. Last year, we carried out a consultation asking people what they thought of our plans for SEND services and we received an excellent response. This feedback provided has been invaluable to our work and, again, I am pleased that this was very clear to the inspectors.

“Going forward, it is crucial that the needs and views of service users and their families continue to be embedded at the heart of SEND provision in County Durham and I would very much like to reassure them that this will be the case.”