A statement put out on social media this week by Parents Voice Isle of Wight — a group set up to speak for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) — has created confusion and mistrust among the community it aims to represent.
The row is over the involvement, or lack of as they are claiming, of Parents Voice in the creation of the Isle of Wight council’s new Safety Valve Agreement (SVA) – something SEND parents and carers fear could result in a reduction of the number of Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and assessments.
Parents Voice claim “Not involved in meetings or discussions“
Earlier this week in relation to the council’s Safety Valve Agreement, Parents Voice stated,
“Parents Voice Isle of Wight were not involved in any meetings or discussion.”
However, published accounts for Parents Voice for the year ending 31st March 2023 stated,
“We have been involved in a project called Safety Valve along with the Isle of Wight Council and Local Authority Directors of Education.”
It went on to add,
“This is a long-term project to bring high needs spending in line with national expectations and this will involve a lot of changes on the Isle of Wight of which parent carers and service users need to be at the centre.”
IWC: PV suggestions incorporated into SVA strategies
Indeed, in March 2023 at the Isle of Wight council’s Policy and Scrutiny Committee for Children’s Services, Education and Skills, Brian Pope, the then-Deputy Director, said,
“I’ve been working now for many months putting together a bid under the government’s Safety Valve proposals and all the indications are that we should be quietly optimistic that we will be successful in that”.
He goes on to claim that he’d had “three or four meetings now with Parent Carer Voice on the Island and actually they’ve come forward with some really good suggestions that I’ve incorporated into these strategies”.
Questions that need answering
Several other council papers make reference to Parents Voice’s involvement in shaping the SVA plans, so following the statement released by Parents Voice this week, members of Isle of Wight SEN Support ask,
“How is it possible that Parents Voice were not involved with the Safety Valve agreement until after the contract was agreed, yet the published accounts relating to the time period before the contract was agreed summarise Parents Voice involvement?”
“Struggling to reconcile Parents Voice position”
A spokesperson for Isle of Wight SEN Support said,
“We are struggling to reconcile Parents Voice position of not being involved with the Safety Valve project and the significant levels of evidence in the public domain which indicate Parents Voice were regularly involved at an early stage, before the Safety Valve agreement was finalised, and on an ongoing basis.
“Nor can we fathom how Parents Voice can state there was not ‘any opportunity to discuss this with the parent carer community prior to the contract being agreed, or since’ (Parents Voice statement made public on 09/07/2024 via Facebook).
“Therefore we would ask whether Parents Voice either need to alter their claims regarding involvement or whether there are explanations for the inconsistencies?”
Can charitable objectives of Parents Voice be achieved?
Isle of Wight SEN Support go on to add,
“The charitable objectives of Parents Voice Isle of Wight state;
The relief of children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities and their families and carers on the Isle of Wight, particularly, but not exclusively through;
a) Promoting and enabling parent/carer participation in the planning and delivery of services by health, education, disability and social care commissioners and service providers
b) Working in partnership to shape and monitor the development of local services so that they enhance the experience and opportunities for young people
c) Providing support, information, activities and training.”
So they also ask, how the involvement of Parents Voice with the Safety Valve project, the non-existent communications around its existence, production and impact on Island children, young people and their families and carers, allows the charitable objectives of Parents Voice to be achieved?
Parents Voice response
OnTheWight has put these questions and more to two contacts at Parents Voice, but at time of publishing we have not received a reply.
We’ll add their response once we receive it.
What is Parents Voice?
Parents Voice Isle of Wight describes itself as “parents working together to improve services for children and young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities on the Isle of Wight”.
The purpose of the group, which is made up of volunteer parent carers of children and young people with a wide range of SEND, is to help shape changes to existing services and to participate in the planning of new and future initiatives for children and young people with SEND from 0 – 25.
Delivery plan
The Isle of Wight council has recently released their delivery plan, embedded below for your convenience.
