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ITEM CA10

CABINET – 21 JUNE 2005

HOME TO SCHOOL AND COLLEGE TRANSPORT

Report by Director for Children, Young People and Families

1. The County Council provides either free or subsidised transport to over 12,000 young people travelling to school or college. The policy reflects statutory requirements that are set out in the Education Acts 1996 and 2002. The Education & Inspections Bill currently before Parliament may lead to an extension of the free transport that the County Council has to provide.
2. On 20 December 2005 a report was submitted to the Cabinet to explain the then projected overspend of £590,000, to provide an analysis of identified budget pressures, set out actions already taken to address the problem and suggestions for possible courses of action for the future. The Cabinet agreed:

• that there should be a consultation on possible changes to the transport policy where the County Council has discretion to provide assistance;
• that officers should report back to the Cabinet in June 2006 on the proposals for a new transport policy to take effect in 2007 /08.

3. The following possible options for change were to be included in the consultation:

• the phased ending of transport to faith schools and/or continuing to provide transport to faith schools but charging for seats on the same terms as those set out in the concessionary scheme;
• the phased ending of free travel for non-Oxfordshire residents to Chiltern Edge School;
• the introduction of charging for post-16 SEN students to be in line with all post-16 charging;
• using free school meals and maximum working tax credit as the reasons for exemptions to the concessionary charge for transport.

4. In addition the Cabinet decided to take the following actions:

• to include as part of the annual consultation on admissions arrangements a review of the designated areas of those secondary schools which have areas that overlap the county boundary, with a view to realigning them with the Oxfordshire boundary;
• to endorse the establishment of an integrated Transport Management Team in the Children, Young People & Families Directorate by April 2006 as an interim step towards the longer-term strategy of developing a centrally managed team for all of the Council’s funded transport arrangements.

5. Consultation took place from January to 8 March 2006 and at the request of Chiltern Edge School this was extended to 31 March. This consultation involved all maintained schools in Oxfordshire, neighbouring local authorities, parish councils, the Archdiocese of Birmingham, the Diocese of Oxford, and the parents of children likely to be affected by any policy change in the first year of operation. The consultation document was also placed on the public website.

Proposal 1 – Travel to Faith Schools

Option 1a) - To end free travel to faith schools

6. If the County Council were to adopt this proposal there would need to be a phased implementation and the full saving would be achieved after 5 years for secondary school transport and seven years for primary school transport.
7. The consultation document explained that there were currently:

• 153 children receiving free transport to a faith primary school;
• 108 children receiving free transport to a faith secondary school;
• 130 Catholic children receiving subsidised travel to the Blessed George Napier from the Bicester area (at the lowest concessionary fare);
• 9 primary schools and two secondary schools that would be affected by the ending of free travel on faith grounds;
• that the County Council would work with the schools to facilitate more locally organised transport during the phasing in of any new arrangements;
• none of the 391 children currently receiving free or subsidised travel on faith grounds would be affected by the proposed change, which would only apply to those due to start at the schools concerned from September 2007
• the full year net cost of the transport contracts for faith travel was approximately £411,840(2005/06 prices).

8. Table 1 below shows the responses received regarding this proposal.

Table. 1 Responses to Option 1a – Proposal to end free travel to faith schools
	Parents	Schools	Councillors	Neighbouring Authorities	Out of Oxon Schools	Dioceses
Agree	2	6
Disagree	35	7	1			1
Neither	2	2

9. Schools’ views were evenly balanced but of the 39 parents responding 35 were against the proposal. This represents only a small % of the 391 children currently being transported. However, this may reflect the fact that travel arrangements for children currently transported would not be affected.
10. Parents and some schools expressed strongly held views that they wanted pupils to retain current transport arrangements to help them access schools of a particular type that offered what they believe to be the most appropriate education. However this privilege, not extended to pupils in any other schools, is costing the Council an average of more than £1000 per pupil from an overspent transport budget. Against the strong arguments for free transport to faith schools it might be argued that "parental choice", as elsewhere, should not be at the expense of others and that in these circumstances parents are responsible for the transport of their children. This tension is highlighted by one group of these pupils that lives in the Bicester area, beyond the 10-mile limit of the Council’s current policy. They have transport provided at a heavily subsidised rate and pay only a concessionary fare. This contrasts with other parents, in the Bicester area, who pay the full cost of a coach to a different school of their choice that is also not local.
11. To remove the free transport to faith schools would be a break with tradition that might have a detrimental effect on some school rolls and would certainly be unpopular with some parents who have strongly held views. Equally, there is a considerable cost to continuing the free transport and it is not equitable with practice in other cases.

Option 1b) - To continue to provide transport to faith schools but to charge at the same rates for all other concessionary travel arrangements.

12. The consultation document explained that currently this would mean charging:

• parents with children of statutory school age £74 per two terms if they are under 3 miles from their nearest faith school or £102 per two terms if they live over 3 miles away;
• post-16 students who live in the designated area for the school £74 per two terms and those post-16 students living outside the designated area would be charged £102 per two terms.

13. It was explained that with a phased introduction and the use of distance related charging it was estimated that there would be additional income of approximately:

• £4,000 in the first part year of operation;
• £12,000 in the second year of operation;
• £18,000 in the third year;
• £24,000 in the fourth year;
• £30,000 in the fifth year.

14. Charging arrangements would be the same as those for concessionary travel to non- faith schools but in those cases places are only allocated on buses that are already running. In this proposal the overall effective subsidy would remain at around £380k
15. The responses received regarding this proposal are shown in Table 2 below. The responses show that a majority of the schools that responded favoured this approach although it was not an approach popular with parents who might be affected.

Table 2. Responses to Option 1b – Continue transport to faith schools with a charge
	Parents	Schools	Councillors	Neighbouring Authorities	Out of Oxon Schools	Dioceses
Agree	3	10
Disagree	31	4	1			1
Neither	4	2

16. This proposal, if adopted, would be:

• unlikely to affect recruitment to faith schools since those least able to pay the charge would be exempt;
• more equitable than current arrangements although it would still represent a significant subsidy to those attending a faith school and would not address the transport overspend which was the purpose of the consultation

17. The consultation document explained that:

• Oxfordshire exceptionally provides free transport to 259 children from the Caversham area of Reading to Chiltern Edge School;
• the arrangement regarding travel to Chiltern Edge School was agreed between the then Berkshire County Council and Oxfordshire County Council in 1992 and in 1995, after a phased transfer of responsibility, Oxfordshire assumed full responsibility for the cost of the transport;
• there is a potential saving to the transport budget of approximately £140,000 per annum after 5 years;

18. The responses received from schools were fairly evenly balanced but, as can be seen from Table 3, there was a significant adverse response from parents.

Table 3. Proposal 2 – End free transport to children at Chiltern Edge School for those not resident in Oxfordshire
	Parents	Schools	Councillors	Neighbouring Authorities	Out of Oxon Schools	Dioceses
Agree	9	6
Disagree	130	4	1	1	1
Neither	8	1

19. The Governors of Chiltern Edge School are opposed to the proposal and believe that ending free transport from the Caversham Park area would have a damaging financial effect on the school.
20. Although there is a financial case for ending free transport it would be wise to await the outcome of the planned reviews of secondary education before considering such action.

Proposal 3 - To introduce transport charges for post-16 SEN students at the same rate as non-SEN students.

21. The consultation document explained that:

• currently post-16 students who have special educational needs receive free transport to the nearest appropriate educational placement;
• this type of transport is high cost and low volume and must be provided to enable access;
• this is different from arrangements for other post-16 travellers since charging at the concessionary rate is the norm for non-SEN post-16 students;
• it is in line with practice pre 16 where the usual rules of free transport are not applied to pupils with SEN who cannot reasonably attend a school even though they may live within 3 miles
• there is a possible maximum income of approximately £18,000 in 2007/08 and £36,000 in 2008/09 depending on the numbers of students eligible for waiving of charges (see Proposal 4)

22. The responses received regarding this proposal are shown in Table 4 below. They show that there was an even balance between the schools that responded and that the majority of parents who responded did not agree with this proposal. The number of responses was quite small, perhaps reflecting the number of students involved.

Table 4. Proposal 3 – The introduction of charging for Post-16 SEN transport
	Parents	Schools	Councillors	Neighbouring Authorities	Out of Oxon Schools	Dioceses
Agree	1	5
Disagree	18	4	1
Neither	3	5

23. The financial gain from this proposal is relatively small and would be borne by those who are already disadvantaged. For these reasons it would probably not be advisable to remove this discretionary service.

Proposal 4 – The use of free school meals/working tax credit as a reason to waive the concessionary charge

24. The consultation document explained that exempting those in receipt of free school meals, or whose parents are in receipt of maximum working tax credit, from the concessionary charge for transport would be consistent with the approach set out in the recent White Paper " Higher Standards, Better Schools For All", published by the DfES on 25 October 2005. It was also explained that this change would simplify the policy and reduce time spent on administration.
25. The responses to this proposal are shown in Table 5 below.

Table 5. Proposal 4 – The use of free school meals/working tax credit as a reason to waive the concessionary charge
	Parents	Schools	Councillors	Neighbouring Authorities	Out of Oxon Schools	Dioceses
Agree	7	11
Disagree	9
Neither	5	2

26. They clearly show that the majority of schools that responded favoured this approach and that the few parental responses were evenly split. However, further work would be needed to ascertain the impact on individual families and to establish reliable systems for replacing existing practice with a new regime. On balance it would appear advisable not to amend the current practice at this time.

Other actions taken following the decisions made by Cabinet on 20 December 2005

27. As decided by the Cabinet a review of the designated areas of those secondary schools which have areas that overlap the county boundary was included in the annual consultation on admissions arrangements with a view to realigning them with the Oxfordshire boundary. Following that consultation the County Council decided not to implement any changes to the designated areas of the three schools concerned.
28. An Integrated Transport Management Team was established in April 2006 to cover the transport responsibilities of the Children, Young People & Families Directorate and those of the Social & Community Services Directorate. This conforms to the Cabinet decision taken on 20 December 2005. Changes in management practice that flow from this will be considered separately as part of the Best Value Review of Funded Transport which is now expected to report in September. That paper will address management, procurement and provision issues whereas this paper is about policy on entitlement.

Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee

29. The Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee saw a draft of this report at its meeting on 23 May. The Committee agreed to advise the Cabinet that:

• (by 8 votes to 6) they support recommendation (a)(1) (ie to accept proposal 1(a), which would end free and subsidised travel to faith schools);
• (unanimously) they support recommendations (b), (c) and (d).

. Financial and Staffing Implications

30. The recommended proposals will realise a sum dependent on the decisions taken about each proposal. An indication is given in the run of the report. The overall financial position in relation to the home to school and college transport budget will be revisited in the context of the Best Value review referred to above.
31. There are no staffing implications.

RECOMMENDATION

32. The Cabinet is RECOMMENDED, subject to consideration of the advice from the Children’s Services Scrutiny Committee:

1. Either:

1. to accept Proposal 1a, which would end free and subsidised travel to faith schools; OR
2. to accept Proposal 1b, which would provide transport at the concessionary rate; OR
3. to continue existing practice i.e. maintaining free travel to faith schools;

2. not to pursue Proposal 2, which would end free transport to Chiltern Edge School for those not resident in Oxfordshire;
3. not to pursue Proposal 3, which would introduce of transport charges for post-16 SEN students;
4. not to pursue Proposal 4, which proposes the use of free school meals/working tax credit as grounds to waive the concessionary charge in place of existing criteria.

KEITH BARTLEY
Director for Learning & Culture

Background Papers: Consultation document and responses from consultees

Contact Officer: Simon Adams Assistant Head of Service, Children & Young People Tel: 01865 810602

May 2006

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