Case Ref: 24 004 836 Category: Education Sub Category: School exclusions

• The Council will share with the Ombudsman an update on its proposed service improvements relating to reviewing its process to ensure annual reviews are actioned, appropriate record keeping is maintained, staff training on the statutory process from Education, Health and Care plans, managing expectations of parents around full-time alternative provision, and a new policy for children being accompanied to alternative provision.
• The Council will remind its complaints handling staff to adhere to the timescales set out in the Council’s Corporate Complaints Policy, and in circumstances where responses are delayed, complainants should be informed and new reasonable timescales should be provided.

Case Ref: 24 011 076 Category: Housing Sub Category: Homelessness

• The Council has agreed to provide refresher training for all housing case officers on how to correctly handle cases where officers are relying on the legislation for deliberate and unreasonable refusal to co-operate. Before the training, the Council has agreed to send out a reminder to all housing staff on the importance of sending and recording decisions at the time of case closure.

Case Ref: 23 013 297 Category: Education Sub Category: Special educational needs

• The Council has agreed to review its policy for checking Education, Health and Care (EHC) Plan provision and ensure it has systems in place to check the special educational provision is in place when a new or substantially different EHC plan is issued, when there is a new placement and when concerns are raised. The Council will then make any relevant improvements to its policy and send it to all relevant staff in the education department and ensure the improvements are implemented.

Case Ref: 23 008 536 Category: Adult care services Sub Category: Safeguarding

• Write to care provider acting on the Council’s behalf to remind staff of the importance of correctly following instructions for administering medication and keeping accurate records.

Case Ref: 23 000 632 Category: Environment and regulation Sub Category: Cemeteries and crematoria

• The Council will establish a policy for the transfer of burial rights which reflects the current guidance available. It should share this policy with all parties responsible for the allocation of burial rights within the Council.

Case Ref: 22 005 218 Category: Education Sub Category: School transport

• The Council will provide training or guidance to all relevant staff and transport appeal panel members about when a school named in an Education, Health and Care Plan is considered to be the nearestsuitable school for transport purposes, in line with statutory guidance and relevant case law.
• The Council has agreed to carry out a review to identify cases where it has wrongly refused to award school transport to pupils with an Education Health and Care Plan naming the parental preference school as the only named school without any condition requiring the parent to provide transport. It will offer transport to those pupils and reimburse any expenses the parents incurred in providing transport.

Case Ref: 20 013 224 Category: Planning Sub Category: Planning applications

• The Council was at fault for having a partly illegible planning document on its website. It will correct its records by uploading a legible copy of the planning document (an applicant's ground condition report) to its website.
• The Council will investigate how it keeps its planning records to prevent the recurrence of a partly illegible planning document being uploaded onto its website.

Case Ref: 20 010 290 Category: Education Sub Category: COVID-19

• The Council will review its procedures for carrying out interim/emergency reviews of Education, Health and Care Plans to ensure it completes the process in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice. It should pay particular attention to the point of transfer between phases of education.