Agenda item

To receive and consider the Review of Home to School Transport Processes report.

The Committee received the Review of Home to School Transport Processes report which was set out in Agenda pages 13-18.

Daniel Robinson, SEN Consultant and Zoe Storey, School Admissions and Transport Manager presented the report.  The following comments were made during discussions of the item:

·           Members noted that one of the issues which had caused difficulties last year was the lateness of parental responses and asked what actions were being taken to prevent it from happening again;

·           Zoe Storey stated that communication had been sent out to parents in the beginning of the summer and the lack of responses had not been anticipated.  The plan was to send out communications earlier this year;

·           Daniel Robinson explained that this application process had not happened for four or five years, and parents were not expecting it.  This year there would not be a need to ask for a form from each family in order to re-commission the service.  The communication going forward would be through schools and SENCOs, he acknowledged that last year the communication with parents had not been sufficiently clear.  It was necessary to have 90% of responses in order to commission the service accordingly;

·           Daniel Robinson informed that the process for commissioning home to school transport had been signed off today with Corporate Transport Unit (CTU) and SEN teams.  He offered to share more information about this with the Committee;

·           Members were pleased that a review had taken place and that there was acknowledgement that things had gone wrong in the past year.  A Member shared an example of unsatisfactory travel arrangements for an autistic child, and expressed frustration that the report listed excuses for bad practices which should not have occurred;

·           It was suggested that Officers should have telephoned parents who had not returned their forms on time.  Daniel Robinson stated that the SEN Team had, later on, called parents asking them to return their forms;

·           A Member felt appalled by the distress that the lack of efficiency had caused parents in the Borough;

·           Daniel Robinson stated that the report sought to give an overview of the situation at the start of the review and to explain the actions which were being put in place to prevent errors from occurring again; 

·           It was explained that because so many forms were received late, the service had had to be re-commissioned, which had resulted in changes two days before the start of term; 

·           Part of the review was looking into strengthening communication with parents going forward;

·           A Member believed that the key issue was that there had not been joint up work between CTU and Children’s Services; she believed that the transport for SEND children service should be placed under Children’s Services.  It was also worrying that communication with schools had not been good;

·           A Member was very concerned that no one had realised that the process of re-commissioning all the providers would be complex and time consuming, and therefore not enough time and resources had been allocated to deal with it;

·           Members urged Officers to learn from the mistakes that had taken place and not to let the same situation happen again;

·           Daniel Robinson stated that the new role of the liaison officer, linking CTU, SEND and Admissions would be very important in improving the communication between departments going forward;

·           In response to a question it was clarified that all children who were eligible to home to school transport would be provided with the service.  If there were enough children from one area, it was preferable to arrange for collective transport for those children, as taxis were the most expensive form of transport;

·           In response to a question it was explained that the Council did not have a statutory obligation to provide sole transport.  The review found that some children who had in the past been provided with sole transport, could in fact use collective modes of transport.  However, this had caused some complaints as some children were used to sole transport;

·           In response to a question Daniel Robinson stated that the SEND review would be made available to the Committee, it had concluded too late to be included in the Agenda papers for this meeting;

·           It was explained that the process of applying for home to school transport would involve parents sending a completed form, which would be submitted to a panel for a decision on eligibility.  Communication with parents would be directly from the panel, including information on how to appeal;

·           In response to a question it was explained that the SEND Team had 12 members of staff who would be able to answer questions from parents with regards to eligibility.  Questions relating to problems with drivers would be directed to CTU;

·           A Member asked if there were sufficient resources to deliver the service and what input schools would have in the process of arranging home to school transport, for example in terms of pick up timings and safety; 

·           Daniel Robinson stated that structurally, it was important to use the expertise from both the CTU and SEND departments and to enable better communication between them for better outcomes.  It had also been identified that a better transport management system for collecting data and producing reports was needed;

·           It was clarified that the Local Authority only had a duty to provide home to school transport during school hours.  On cases where a staggered start to school was required, this was worked out with SENCOs at schools.

Members considered making a recommendation to help Officers to acquire the necessary resources/systems to improve the service.  After discussions it was agreed that the Committee would wait to make recommendations at a later stage, with more information from the SEND Review and further analysis from Officers.

Members asked if there were any current issues with the provision of home to school transport.  Zoe Story stated that there were issues in relation to availability of drivers, cost of petrol and the availability of buses.  She stated that the review had streamlined the transport system, with the new routes 11 buses were taken out of the roads, reducing pollution and emissions.

A Member pointed out that communication with schools should not be limited to communicating with SENCOs, schools needed to be kept informed of changes and bus times.  There had been serious issues last year with schools not receiving information about changes to bus times, this had damaged the relationship between the schools and the Local Authority.  However, it was recognised that the Local Authority was taking action to repair the relationship with schools.

Members asked that a follow up report on Home to School Transport be submitted to the Committee, including information about the Budget.

In response to a question Daniel Robinson explained that the request for a new transport system was going to be submitted for approval to the Corporate Transport Board.  He felt confident that there was sufficient information to gain approval for a new system.

RESOLVED That:

1)     The report be noted; and

2)     A follow up report will be submitted to the Committee, which will include information about the Budget.