Councillors have questioned how much Solihull parents have been involved in the council's plans to reform the special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) system.

The government is pushing forward with a proposal to reform SEND system.

The major changes include replacing Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) – which are designed to support children and young people with special educational needs – with new ISPs, layers of support and national inclusion standards.

Solihull Metropolitan Borough Council's response to the changes came under the spotlight at the latest meeting of the children's services and education scrutiny board.

Jane Sowerby, the assistant director of education at the local authority, explained the authority has now submitted its local SEND reform plan to the Department for Education (DfE) setting out what the support for children and young people with SEND in the borough will be in future.

And the officer said they were now waiting for approval from the DofE for the three year plan which the government had required the authority produce in 14 weeks.

Cllr Samantha Gethen asked: "I understand why it was done so quickly.

"It does say that all stakeholders have been involved but for me parents haven't been involved. That's a huge omission.

"Schools currently can't meet need. We see that, we see the struggles, we see that in the rise of EHCPs.

"Realistically, how are schools going to meet need moving forward?"

The officer replied: "We involved Solihull Parent Carer Voice fully in all the workshops to represent parents.

"We have to work with schools. Special school places will remain, we are increasing our special schools places.

"Another thing designed to support schools is the creation of specialist inclusion bases (for children with higher levels of need in mainstream schools) and support bases (run by schools providing additional targeted support).

"That should help to meet children's needs."

Cllr Alison Wilson asked: "We are fortunate to have other groups in Solihull that work with parents, do you have a method on how to engage all those?"

The officer replied: "We will be doing lots of meetings with parents.

"We are in touch with other parent groups.

"We will continue to make those meetings a priority so parents can ask questions and understand what we are planning."

Cllr James Johnson asked: "There is a certain profile of parent that may engage with groups.

"I'm conscious there might be a lot of parents who don't engage with groups of that kind. How are we going to reach those people?"

The officer replied: "We have plans for surveys, other communications, to invite parents to give us their feedback.

"We have got to get communications right."

The meeting was held at the Civic Suite on July 28.