Nottinghamshire County Council has welcomed the recent announcement that it is to benefit from an extra £16m funding to ensure educational places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND), and alternative provision.

The funding, announced by the Department for Education, will be allocated over two years and will be used to secure additional pupil places for those with special educational needs. 

This additional funding will directly support the council’s target to create 490 additional SEND school and alternative provision places by 2026, to address the growing demand for more specialist school places across the county.

Groups and charities across Nottinghamshire are being encouraged to apply for the latest round of community-improving grants. These funds will help towards boosting local facilities, helping with essential running costs, as well as improving residents’ access to affordable and healthy food.

It’s all part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s continued commitment to encourage healthy and sustainable communities by financially supporting community groups and charities.

The latest round of the Local Communities Fund (LCF) is now open for applicants until Friday 24 May 2024. Eligible groups can apply for funding which demonstrate that their projects will help communities live healthier and more independent lives.

A new regional fostering hub for the East Midlands has launched. The collaboration between councils in Derby, Derbyshire, Nottingham and Nottinghamshire has been made possible after the D2N2 authorities secured £1.626m in government funding.

The four authorities successfully applied last year to join the Department for Education’s Fostering Recruitment and Retention programme. Derby City Council is leading on the project, receiving the funding to implement the regional hub and create a ‘Mockingbird constellation’ in each local authority area.

Nottinghamshire community groups, schools and charities are invited to apply for a share of funding for initiatives that focus on waste reduction, reuse or recycling.

Nottinghamshire County Council and Veolia’s Reduce, Reuse, Recycling Fund aims to support local, community-based projects that encourage individuals to adopt a new perspective on waste and resources.

Grants of up to £1,000 are available for a variety of projects and initiatives throughout Nottinghamshire (excluding the city of Nottingham area). This could include practical equipment, in-person or online workshops, social media campaigns, education activities or promotion and awareness raising.

Nottinghamshire County Council’s Cabinet meeting approved a proposal to roll out family hub networks across Nottinghamshire.

The proposal set out the transition of children’s centre buildings into family hubs, offering services for families from pregnancy through to a young person’s 18^th birthday. The roll-out will start in June 2024 and run through to April 2025.

Family hub networks are intended to offer support from pregnancy, through a child’s early years, later childhood and until they turn 18.  

They aim to provide a ‘front door’ to families, offering a ‘one-stop shop’ of family support services across social care, education, mental health and physical health needs, with a comprehensive Start for Life offer for parents and babies at its core, and the underpinning principle that families should need to tell their story only once.

Grants totalling £50,000 have been awarded to 102 Nottinghamshire athletes and para-athletes to help fulfil their sporting ambitions.

The Talented Athletes Fund is part of Nottinghamshire County Council’s Local Communities Fund which offers financial help and support to local communities.

This year the funding pot remains at £50,000 to help more up-and-coming athletes realise their potential in their chosen sport, particularly those competing in disability/parasports who may require expensive adapted equipment, clothing, or have higher transport costs. Individuals who represented their country at national events in the last 24 months, which include a range of Sport England-recognised sports, were able to claim up to £1,000.

Nottinghamshire’s local area partnership continues to make progress to improve services and support for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

This recognition comes from the Department for Education and NHS England’s recent stocktake, which tests the strategic decision-making and oversight of the improvement programme. This follows the 2023 Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission’s inspection of SEND partnership services.

The partnership includes Nottinghamshire County Council, NHS Nottingham and Nottinghamshire Integrated Care Board and the Nottinghamshire parent carer forum (PCF), the voice of parent carers.