Oxfordshire County Council will have no dedicated cabinet member for SEND as the new Lib Dem cabinet is revealed

The Liberal Democrats won an overall majority on the county council for the first time in the council’s history in the local elections on May 2.

The new cabinet was announced at the county council’s annual meeting on Tuesday, May 20, with all 69 newly elected councillors meeting for the first time.

Under the new cabinet, there will be no dedicated cabinet member for SEND, with the brief coming under the portfolio of the cabinet member for children and young people.

Commenting on the change, leader of the county council Liz Leffman said: “Our focus on special educational needs (SEND) remains strong. Recent feedback from inspectors has been that we are very much on the right track.

“As such we believe it is now the right moment to have the cabinet member for children’s services focusing on SEND directly alongside all of the other hugely important services provided for children and young people by the county council.”

In September 2023, the county council were told they were failing children with SEND in an Ofsted report.

Cllr Leffman will continue in her role as leader of the county council, which she has held since May 2021.

Councillor Neil Fawcett will become deputy leader of the county council with cabinet responsibility for resources including cultural services and libraries.

Some cabinet members will remain in their posts, with councillor Andrew Gant staying on as cabinet member for transport management, councillor Dan Levy continuing as cabinet member for finance, and councillor Tim Bearder remaining as cabinet member for adults, covering social care, mental health and homelessness.

Councillor Kate Gregory will become cabinet member for public health and inequalities, after serving as cabinet member for SEND in the previous administration.

Councillor Judy Roberts will become cabinet member for place, environment and climate action, after serving as cabinet member for infrastructure and development strategy.

Councillor Jenny Hannaby will become cabinet member for community wellbeing and safety.

Newly elected councillors Ben Higgins and Sean Gaul will become cabinet members for future economy and innovation, and children and young people respectively.

In a statement, Cllr Leffman stressed that the council would continue their work to “make Oxfordshire a greener, fairer and healthier place for all our residents”.

She said: “We will work with partners across the county to combat flooding, we will tackle the potholes that have resulted from years of cuts to funding for our highways, and we will continue to develop sustainable transport and active travel in all our communities.

“We will seek to create innovative financial solutions while ensuring that we are run as efficiently and cost effectively as possible, so that we can pay for the crucial services we need to deliver for the Oxfordshire public, and for the benefit of future generations.

“We want to work hard to help create the conditions for sustainable and inclusive economic growth.”

The May elections are likely to be the last ones in the county council’s history, with the government announcing plans for local government reorganisation where two-tier authorities will be replaced with unitary authorities.