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<p>The department will be sharing strategic guidance with all Regional Expert Partnerships
(REPs) for delivery of the Change Programme, which will include setting out the local
partners they must engage with. Engagement with all partners across all local areas
involved in the REPs, including schools, health partners and families, is integral
to successfully delivering, testing and refining the Special Educational Needs and
Disabilities (SEND) and Alternative Provision (AP) reforms set out in the Improvement
Plan.</p><p>Throughout the lifetime of the programme, there will be a constant feedback
loop between the department and the REPs in order to monitor the findings and share
learning and best practice. This will include the REPs feeding back on the progress
of delivering the reforms and any barriers they may be facing. The department will
be transparent throughout this process and is currently establishing how it will provide
public updates as the programme progresses.</p><p>The department previously shared
that all REPs would be led by a lead local authority, selected through objective criteria
based on published SEND performance data. The department used this data to identify
a shortlist of local authorities in each Department for Education region, who were
subsequently invited to submit an expression of interest to be considered for the
role. To be eligible for the shortlist, prospective lead local authorities must not:</p><ul><li>Have
a live written statement of action from the previous Ofsted/ Care Quality Commission
(CQC) Area SEND inspection framework.</li><li>Have an 'inconsistent’ or ‘widespread/systemic
failure’ outcome from the new Ofsted/CQC Area SEND inspection framework.</li><li>Have
a Section 114 notice.</li><li>Be on our Safety Valve programme.</li></ul><p> </p><p>They
must also be in the top 75% of authorities nationally against:</p><ul><li>Rates of
Education, Health and Care (EHC) plan assessment requests.</li><li>Rates of EHC plan
assessments completed in 20 weeks.</li><li>Special Educational Needs exclusions.</li></ul><p>The
department then ranked the remaining authorities based on their Designated School
Grant surplus/deficit and shortlisted the top three local authorities in each region.</p>
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