Contact: Sue Sylvester, Corporate Performance Team , ext 7493

1 Purpose of the Service

1.1 Schools are where pupils should be for all or most of their statutory education. However, for those pupils who have been excluded, or are physically or psychiatrically unwell, EOTAS may be considered. EOTAS is a short term provision, its purpose being to reintegrate pupils to school and / or prepare them for further education, training or employment. The Service has increasingly become involved with preventative work and since April 2002 has been responsible for the Behaviour Support Service. The EOTAS Service is also responsible for supervising the provision of home education by parents.

1.2 The relevant duty of Hampshire County Council as a Local Education Authority is laid down in Section 19(1) of the Education Act 1996, which states that "Each local education authority shall make arrangements for the provision of suitable full-time or part-time education at school or otherwise than at school for those children of compulsory school age who, by reason of illness, exclusion from school or otherwise, may not for any period receive suitable education unless such arrangements are made for them". `Suitable education' is defined in Section 19(6), in relation to a child or young person, as `efficient education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs he may have'. Suitable education may be provided by a Centre or Unit, defined in Section 19 (2) as `a school established .... and maintained by a local education authority which is specially organised to provide education for such children, and is not a county school or special school'.

2 Evaluation of whether the service meets Best Value

2.1 The Report of the Ofsted Inspection of Hampshire County Council in May 2001 stated that `the LEA discharges its statutory duty to provide education otherwise than at school (EOTAS) satisfactorily. Provision includes home tuition, provision for sick children, pupil referral units and links with Further Education for Key Stage 4 pupils who are unlikely to be reintegrated into school. All are satisfactory'.

2.2 Since the time of the Ofsted Inspection, the EOTAS Service has been re-structured for the following purposes:-

- the need to make full-time provision for permanently excluded pupils from September 2002

- the desire to move from an essentially re-active to a more pro-active service with a greater emphasis on preventative work

- the need to make better and more effective provision for pupils out of school

- the desire to improve levels of re-integration

- the need to make better and more effective use of resources and the need to improve accommodation.

2.3 The Behaviour Support Service has been incorporated into the EOTAS Service, a new staffing structure has been adopted and new appointments made, including those of the County Behaviour Support Team Manager and the Education Centre Managers. Education Centres have been established, based on single site provision catering for all key stages and all client groups and providing work bases for the Teaching and Behaviour Support Teams, home and hospital tutors. (Full details of the re-structuring of the EOTAS Service was contained in a report to the Education Policy Review Committee on 19 November 2002).

3 The Review details

3.1 At this stage it is estimated that 50 days of officer time will be required for the review and that the direct costs of the Review (covering the costs of questionnaire production, extended consultation, travel costs and room bookings) will not exceed £4,000.

3.2 The following elected members have been nominated to participate in this Review:-

Councillor Michael Cartwright

Councillor Jane Frankum

Councillor Kathy Heron

Councillor Pamela Peskett

4 Recommendation

4.1 That the Best Value review of the Education Other Than at School (EOTAS) Service proceeds in accordance with the approach and timetable outlined in the project brief.