I would like to request the following information from your council regarding SEND:

1. Safety valve councils are required to quarterly send progress reports to the Department for Education. Please can you provide a copy of each report submitted since your council entered the programme.
The Council are applying Section 36 exemption to this request which has been signed off by the Qualified Person. The material requested is the monitoring report related to an agreement between Wokingham Borough Council (WBC) and the Department for Education (DfE).

An opinion was sought from the Department for Education regarding this request and they advised that they have in the past received similar requests and have obtained exemptions under section 36 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 in order that free and frank discussion between local authorities and the Department can continue.

The Safety Valve agreement between Wokingham Borough Council and the Department setting out the key performance actions, are published and already in the public domain: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/dedicated-schools-grant-very-high-deficit-intervention

Wokingham Borough Council has published and will continue to publish public information relating to the programme of improvement and investment in services for children with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities setting out aspirations, and expectations resulting from the successful implementation of the reforms.

2. Has the DfE withheld any payments since you entered the programme, and if so why?
No

3. For each year of being in the programme, what was the proposed transfer, if any, from the schools block to the high needs block?
1%, then 0.5% following consultation.

4. On 4, what was the actual agreed transfer?
0.5%