This handbook sets out how inspectors gather evidence and judge a local area partnership’s arrangements for children and young people with SEND. This handbook is primarily a guide for inspectors on how to carry out area SEND inspections. However, we have made it publicly available so that children and young people with SEND, their parents and carers, local area leaders and practitioners, and other organisations, are informed about the processes and procedures of inspection. 27. The handbook balances the need for consistency in inspections with the flexibility required to respond to the individual circumstances of each local area. It should not be regarded as a set of inflexible rules, but as a broad account of inspection procedures. 28. During the inspection, inspectors will visit providers such as early years settings, schools, alternative provision, colleges and specialist services to gather evidence.[footnote 3] These providers will not be under inspection; they will remain subject to separate inspection arrangements in line with Ofsted and the CQC’s statutory and regulatory duties and powers. 29. This handbook has 4 parts:
Part 1: The evaluation schedule – the evaluation criteria inspectors use to make their judgements
Part 2: How local area partnerships will be inspected – information about the processes before, during and after an inspection
Part 3: Monitoring inspections – the purpose and details of monitoring inspections
Part 4: Engagement meetings – the purpose and details of engagement meetings