Agenda and minutes

Councillors Sarah Bevan and David Veale had sent their apologies to the Panel. Councillor Anthony Clarke was present for the duration of the meeting as a substitute for Councillor David Veale.

At this point in the meeting declarations of interest are received from Members in any of the agenda items under consideration at the meeting. Members are asked to indicate:

(a) The agenda item number in which they have an interest to declare.

(b) The nature of their interest.

(c) Whether their interest is a disclosable pecuniary interest or an other interest,  (as defined in Part 2, A and B of the Code of Conduct and Rules for Registration of Interests)

Any Member who needs to clarify any matters relating to the declaration of interests is recommended to seek advice from the Council’s Monitoring Officer before the meeting to expedite dealing with the item during the meeting.

The Chairman announced that all public statements would be made under agenda item 7.

In May 2012, the Early Years, Children and Youth Policy Development and Scrutiny Panel agreed to undertake a review of Home to School Transport in Bath & North East Somerset. The review is currently in its evidence gathering phase and as part of the review process Members are holding a public meeting to receive contributors’ views.  The purpose of this is to elicit the views of key stakeholders.

The terms of reference agreed in May also stated that the steering group would gather examples of other local authorities’ Home to School Transport policies for comparative analysis and highlight what research had already been conducted through previous scrutiny reviews. The briefing document attached as appendix 1 outlines these findings and will form part of the wider evidence gathering process for the review. 

The Parent Support Services Manager gave the Panel a summary of the current policy of the Council.

He explained that the overall budget for Home to School Transport was currently around £4m and that that was broken down into the following categories.

Statutory Distances

A Local Authority has a duty to provide transport if the statutory distance to the nearest appropriate school is exceeded. Statutory walking distance” is two miles for children aged under eight, and three miles for children aged eight and over. The measurement of the “statutory walking distance” is not necessarily the shortest distance by road. It is measured by the shortest route along which a child, accompanied as necessary, may walk with reasonable safety.

Under the current statutory distance policy of the Council they currently transport 957 children at an annual cost of £850,000.

Hazardous Route

Where children live within “statutory walking distance” of their nearest appropriate school a local authority has to make travel arrangements where the nature of the route is such that a child cannot reasonably be expected to walk (accompanied as necessary) in reasonable safety.

Under the current hazardous route policy of the Council they currently transport 833 children at an annual cost of £830,000.

Denominational

Local authorities, in fulfilling their duties in relation to travel, are required to have regard to the wish of a parent to have their child educated at a particular school on the grounds of the parents’ religion or belief.

Assistance with denominational transport is currently provided to the nearest appropriate school if the statutory distances are met and the child is baptised in the relevant faith.

In September 2007 the Council introduced a charging policy for children qualifying for denominational transport. The current charge is £300 per annum [£50 per term]. For the 2^nd and 3^rd child a reduction of 50% is given. No further charge is made for additional children if a family has more than 3 children travelling. If a family is in receipt of free school meals or maximum working tax credit they are exempt from the charge.

The Council currently spends £310,000 on transport to denominational schools. The total annual income collected from parents is £65,000. The annual net cost is therefore £245,000. A total of 189 children pay the full charge and 55 children pay the 50% reduction. A further 62 children travel but are exempt from the charge.

Special Educational Needs [age 0-16].

Transport assistance is given if the pupil is attending their nearest Special School and the statutory distances are met. When the distances are not met the following criteria are considered.

·  The nature of the child’s disability.

·  Family circumstances

·  The pupil’s social skills.

·  The nature of the journey.

The Council currently transports 271 pupils at an annual cost of £1.45m.

Children in Care 

To enable continuity of education when a child is placed in care consideration is given to assisting with transport so a child can remain at their existing school. This is normally provided when  ...  view the full minutes text for item 52.