Issue - meetings

Home to School Transport Policy for September 2015

Meeting: 22/04/2014 - Cabinet (Item 80)

80 Home to School Transport Policy 2015 pdf icon PDF 144 KB

Additional documents:

Decision:

That with effect from September 2015, and subject to the distance thresholds appropriate to the age of the child being met, eligibility to free home to school transport for Surrey children to attend their nearest geographical Surrey school (measured by the shortest walking route) be extended, if their nearest school is out of County and the distance or safety of route to that school would mean that transport would still need to be provided.

 

Reasons for Decisions:

 

  • It would enable parents who would otherwise receive transport to their nearest out of County school, to send their children to their nearest Surrey school and still receive transport, thus potentially increasing their ‘choice’ of schools
  • It would ensure that the cost of transport would not be a barrier for children to attend their nearest Surrey school
  • It is a policy change that could be applied consistently across the County
  • It would demonstrate support to Surrey schools by offering families an incentive to apply for their nearest Surrey school, even if they have an out of County school which is nearer
  • It would help to support the financial viability of undersubscribed Surrey schools and in turn may reduce the likelihood of County Council funding being needed to support the recovery of an undersubscribed school
  • In some cases it may cost less to transport a child to a Surrey school than to an out of County school
  • It would mean that families living in Dormansland and Lingfield would not have their transport to Oxted withdrawn if their nearest school is outside of Surrey
  • It would only apply if a parent applied for and was offered a place at the child’s nearest geographical Surrey school
  • It was supported by Children and Education Select Committee

 

[The decisions on this item can be called in by the Children and Education Select Committee]

 

Member Motion referred by Council

 

Mr Stephen Cooksey addressed the Cabinet on his motion, relating to the Home to School Transport policy, which was referred from the meeting of the Council on 10 December 2013.

 

The response to the motion was considered as part of the discussion and is attached as Appendix 4.

Minutes:

Prior to consideration of the report on the outcome of the consultation of Surrey’s Home to School Transport Policy, Mr Cooksey addressed the Cabinet relating to his motion on this topic, which had been referred from the meeting of the Council on 10 December 2013.

 

Mr Cooksey made the following points:

 

·         That, following the consultation on the Home to School Transport policy, this was the final report and therefore there was no opportunity for a Members’ Start and Finish Task Group to assess the findings of the consultation

·         That the stated intention in advance of the consultation was not to propose any change to the Council’s Home to School Transport policy for 2015 which had been the case apart from one change

·         There had been a very low response rate to the consultation

·         There was little flexibility in the present policy

·         Finally, he commented on the tabled response to each of the six points of his motion.

 

The motion and the Cabinet’s response is attached as Appendix 4 to these minutes.

 

The Leader of the Council responded by firstly referring to the scrutiny of this policy by the Children and Education Select Committee and the Cabinet’s tabled response. He said that it was not the role of Council / Cabinet to set up task groups, that was the remit of the Council Overview and Scrutiny Committee / select committees.

He considered that this was a comprehensive report and that the Admissions and Transport team did an excellent job in this area of work.

 

Cabinet Members were asked to vote on the referred motion. The Cabinet’s tabled response was agreed and the motion was lost.

 

The Cabinet Member for Schools and Learning introduced the report, informing Members that apart from the withdrawal of discretionary transport on faith grounds to denominational schools, Surrey’s Home to School Transport Policy had not been reviewed since 2006 and therefore, she believed that this review was timely.

 

She confirmed that there had been extensive consultation on this policy and considered that the low response rate was due to the generally smooth running of this provision. She said that Surrey’s policy for mainstream children generally only provided free home to school transport for children who met the statutory eligibility criteria and currently 6500 children were eligible to receive it. She also referred to anomalies and the options available to consider cases on an individual basis.

 

Referring to the report from the Children and Education Select Committee and their suggested proposals, she explained why their recommendation (1), relating to siblings had not been taken forward and included in the final report. She stressed the importance of a fair and equitable Home to School Transport policy for all Surrey children.

 

Finally, she referred to the Equalities Impact Assessment (EIA), attached to the report, and which the Cabinet Associate for Fire and Police Services also mentioned, stating that a full EIA was not required because there were only minor changes to the policy.

 

Mrs Watson had requested to speak and  ...  view the full minutes text for item 80