Agenda item

A copy of the Home to School Transport consultation documents are attached for the Commission to consider any response it would wish to make. It is intended that the draft Policy for Home to School Transport, together with an overview of the consultation responses, will be considered at the Commission’s meeting scheduled to be held on 30 April.

 

The Director of Environment and Transport will deliver a presentation under this item, the slides to which are attached for your information. An all member briefing on this issue was held on 12 February.

 

The Commission considered a presentation on the proposed new policy for Home to School Transport. The Commission also considered the public consultation document. A copy of the slides forming the presentation and a copy of the public consultation document is filed with these minutes marked “Agenda Item 2”.

 

The Chairman advised that the Commission was considering this matter:

 

(a)       As it covered the remits of two Committees. The Spokesmen of the Environment and Transport and Children and Families Overview and Scrutiny Committees had been invited to attend to express their views on the proposals;

(b)       As a consultee at this stage. The consultation would close on 12 March and the Commission at its meeting on 30 April would be considering the outcome of the consultation and the recommendation to be put to the Cabinet at its meeting on 6 May.

 

The Director of Environment and Transport considered the report and gave a PowerPoint presentation which he highlighted the following:

 

(c)       The Government had encouraged schools to be academies and therefore independent of the Council. The majority of secondary schools had opted to become academies. As a result of this, academies were increasingly:

·                Setting their own catchment areas which were in some cases different to those that had existed and crossed administrative boundaries;

·                Changing the age range of their schools with many coming 11-16 or 11-13 schools;

·                Discontinuing previous feeder school relationships.

(d)       Academies were now operating as businesses and were in competition with each other to attract pupils;

(e)       The local authority had to recognise this new reality and the proposals on home to school transport now put forward recognised this. The proposals aimed to:

(i)            Ensure the policy was equitable and did not favour one academy over another as to do so would risk legal challenge;

(ii)          Ensure that the County Council’s financial position was protected as academies changed their age ranges and catchment areas, but were not themselves accountable for the cost of transport;

(iii)         Provide clarity to parents so that they could make informed choices;

(f)        The option of a policy which would provide transport to the nearest Leicestershire school had been looked at but was ruled out following legal advice.

 

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr. Andrew Morris, Head Teacher of South Charnwood High School and Mr. Huwe Howe, Principal of Beauchamp College who were present to speak on the item. The Commission also noted a submission from Sonia Singleton, Head Teacher of Gartree High School and the comments of Matthew Parrott, Head Teacher of Shepshed High School and Hind Leys College, copies of which are filed with these minutes.

 

Mr. Morris delivered a speech which covered the following points (a full copy of Mr. Morris’ speech is appended to the minutes):

 

·                The proposed policy was unfair and unjust and discriminated against certain schools according to their location or diverse catchment area;

 

·                The proposed policy would cost some schools money as they attempted to ‘level the playing field’;

 

·                One size did not fit all;

 

·                Exceptions must be made for some schools ‘in exceptional circumstances’;

 

·                The transition arrangements for pupils presently in the high school of schools which are changing their age range to 11-16 were welcomed;

 

·                Entitlement to free transport to school for Year 11 pupils (presently in Year 9) in schools changing their age range to 11-16 should be reinstated;

 

·                With regards to the point above, rather than remove transport for Year 10 pupils for one year and then reinstate it in Year 11, the policy should continue to provide free transport to Year 10 pupils staying at 11-16 schools;

 

·                “Parachute payments” should be given for schools hit harshest by the policy;

 

·                Money should be delegated to schools termly based on number of pupils choosing the school (within designated/catchment areas) or based on present home school transport costs;

 

·                Consideration should be given to amending the proposed policy to allow exceptions in exceptional circumstances.

 

Mr. Howe delivered a speech which covered the following points:

 

·                Beauchamp College was a very popular and oversubscribed school. At present, it was not considering changing its age range and it was stressed that not all schools were currently, or wished to become, academies. It was felt that schools that were not academies were being disadvantaged by the proposed new Policy;

·                The proposals would adversely damage the relationships and partnerships that had developed between a number of schools and their “feeder” schools;

·                The proposals would add confusion for young people and parents making decisions about future schooling;

·                It was felt that there had not been adequate consideration of the effect the proposals could have on congestion and therefore road safety;

·                It was felt that there had been inadequate consideration of alternative approaches, such as delegating transport funding to schools or delegating funding based on traditional pupil movement.

 

The Chairman welcomed to the meeting Mr. D. A. Sprason CC, who was present to speak on the matter as a Governor of South Charnwood High School. Mr. Sprason, whilst noting the difficult position facing the Council regarding academies and school transport, never-the-less felt it was important that, as a Governor of South Charnwood High School, he should draw attention to some of the issues that would be faced by the School, including:

 

·                South Charnwood High School had nearly closed 30 years ago due to falling numbers. The County Council had helped the School by creating a new catchment area which included Leicester Forest East. This change had secured the School’s future;

·                The new proposals would split villages and break friendships between students as they moved through their schooling;

·                The transition arrangements were welcomed. However, it was expected that the School would have to spend around £50,000 of its education funding on transport if it were to continue to attract the pupil numbers it required;

 

The Commission then considered the following two documents that had been circulated earlier in the day by the Liberal Democrat Group, as alternative proposals:

 

·                Proposal for Home to School Transport – Exploring an Alternative Policy;

·                Exploring the Possibility of Subcontracting School Transport to Schools.

(Copies of these documents are filed with these minutes.)

Members of the Commission were advised that these proposals had been drawn up in response to the consultation, which invited members of the public to submit alternatives. The Director of Environment and Transport advised the Commission that he had not had the opportunity to fully explore the options now put forward and indicated he would do so and report back to the next meeting of the Commission on 26 March.

 

A general discussion ensued and a number of concerns and questions were raised by members, including the following:

 

·                The policy would have an adverse impact on existing school relationships and the work done with feeder schools to make the transition from primary to secondary easier;

·                Parents on low incomes or those who could not afford the cost of transport would not be able to exercise choice;

·                Leicestershire pupils would be lost to schools in neighbouring authorities which may make them unviable. A further question was raised regarding the impact this would have on the level of education funding that would be received in Leicestershire. Officers undertook to look into this and write to members.

 

During the debate on the matter, a suggestion was made that the policy should be amended so that free transport was provided to the “nearest school with available space for the whole cohort of pupils”. The Director of Environment and Transport stated that he would report back on this proposal at the next meeting of the Commission.

 

RESOLVED:

 

(a)       That the presentation delivered be noted;

(b)       That the alternative policies now put forward by the Liberal Democrat Group and the suggestion that the Policy should be amended to provide free transport to the “nearest available school with space for the whole cohort of pupils” be the subject of further consideration by officers, and that a report analysing the viability of these options be submitted to the Scrutiny Commission’s meeting scheduled for 26 March.