Agenda item

To consider a report by the Head of Customers and Education Support (copy enclosed) to provide additional information regarding revision of the School Transport Policy, as requested at Communities Scrutiny on 10 September 2015.

9.40 a.m. – 10.15 a.m.

The Head of Customers and Education Support (HofC&ES) introduced the report (previously circulated) to provide additional information as requested by the Communities Scrutiny Committee on 10 September, 2015.  She outlined the background of the implementation of the Policy.  The service had put forward the school transport policy as a potential savings option from September 2016 to a Freedoms & Flexibilities workshop during 2014.

Elected Members on realising the amount of potential savings associated with this budget had instructed officers to work towards implementing the Policy from September 2015 rather than 2016 as originally anticipated.  This decision had necessitated meeting some tight deadlines in order to publish the proposed policy changes within the statutory requirements of 11 months prior to its implementation.

The policy applied to the eligibility for school transport to secondary schools, hence the 3 mile rule to be eligible to access free home to school transport, and providing that was the nearest suitable school.

In previous years, Denbighshire had been far less stringent when applying the eligibility criteria, and as a result, a high number of pupils had been accessing the service that were not actually eligible.

In applying the policy to secondary school pupils, it had come to light that some primary school pupils had also been provided with free home to school transport even though they were not entitled to the service as they lived less than 2 miles from the nearest suitable school.  This appeared to have caused a problem for families in Rhuddlan with children who attended Ysgol Dewi Sant, Rhyl.  It was asked that a meeting be held between officers and parents to assess the route from Rhuddlan to the school.  The route had been assessed recently as not hazardous.  The cost of paying for public transport to Welsh medium or faith schools in future may limit parental choice when choosing schools for their children to attend.

The majority of issues were in the rural areas, as it was pupils from those areas who relied on school transport.  Members also referred to the community impact of the loss of bus services to the rural areas.  This raised concerns regarding the mid to long-term viability and sustainability of some rural communities following the loss of their schools and bus service.  Members were concerned that because of these losses rural communities would, in due course, become commuter residences without a sense of community.

Members reported the steps one high school had taken and that had been to pay for transport for pupils for one area to the school to enable it to maintain pupil numbers.

The terminology used within the Policy may need revising to ensure clarity, the Policy name for example, home to school transport, may be revised to Schools Transport Policy.  The Committee at its meeting on 11 September 2014 had resolved that the Policy should be called “Home to School Transport Eligibility Policy”, however, there must be consistency in referencing to avoid any confusion with other school transport policies, such as transport for children with Special Educational Needs (SEN).

A positive outcome of the application of the Policy had been the community spirit and the coming together of neighbours to find solutions and work together to transport their children to the designated pick-up points or to schools.  Such collaboration would be required more and more in the future as more cuts to public finances began to impact on services which local authorities would be able to provide.

Officers offered to discuss with Members, individually unresolved problems relating to specific individuals/families within their wards.  However, they emphasised that not all queries could be resolved to the parents/guardians’ satisfaction.

Officers requested Members, who were aware of outstanding complaints/queries, to contact them if they were of the view that any complaints/queries had not been dealt with.

Members requested that a copy of the document circulated to members on 3 July 2015 and the letter sent to parents on 10 August 2015 be circulated to them.  Officers agreed to do this.

Following an in-depth discussion, officers responded to Members’ questions as follows:

·       Discussions had taken place with Conwy County Borough Council with respect to increasing the capacity of the school transport from Betws-yn-Rhôs via Cefnmeiriadog and the problems in finding a mutual and viable resolution.

·       It had been emphasised that officers would not suggest that children were to walk to pick-up points, but there may be situations where they could safely walk if accompanied.  Parents would be told that they should make arrangements for their children to arrive safely at their required pick-up points, either walking with them where able, or transporting them directly.  This would be at their discretion.

·       Officers advised that it had not become clear until the start of the autumn term, the total number of pupils affected by the policy changes.  The numbers who were eligible for free home to school transport were known, but during the first few weeks of the term, the numbers using the free transport, although ineligible had become clear.  The parents/guardians of those pupils would not have received advance notification of the transport’s withdrawal and, therefore, it had been those individuals who had generally generated the complaints.

·       An appeal process was in place and this had been working well.

·       Officers confirmed that if pupils had been permitted free home to school transport to a school, which was not their nearest suitable school, prior to the implementation of the current Policy, they would still be eligible to the free transport from their designated pick-up point for the remainder of the statutory schooling period.

·       It had been confirmed that despite the Policy’s implementation, the anticipated savings had not yet been achieved, although they were not too far from the target set.

At the conclusion of the discussion, Members:

RESOLVED that subject to the above and the provision of the required information, to support the continued application of the Home to School Transport eligibility Policy.