Agenda item

Report by Corporate Director for Children’s Services

Officers were asked to provide an overview to include the following information. 

• Current arrangements including parental preference

• Pupil projections, expansion plans and need

• How to create fairness within the system

• How to decarbon the service

• Service User experience and opinion

The Committee is RECOMMENDED to note the report. 

The Committee was provided with a report which provided an overview of the Home to School Transport Policy in Oxfordshire. The report contained the following information: 

• Current arrangements including parental preference

• Pupil projections, expansion plans and need

• How to create fairness within the system

• How to decarbon the service

• Service User experience and opinion

The Director for Childrens Services attended the meeting and introduced Neil Darlington (Admissions and Transport), Sandra Pearce (Transport Hub) and Paul Fermer (Community Operations) who provided details of the Policy to Members.

The current arrangements for Home to School Transport are that normally eligibility for free travel is determined at the time that a school place is allocated through, Oxfordshire County Council’s Coordinated Admissions Scheme for entry at the normal points of admission; and/or, the issuing of an Education, Health and Care Plan; and/or, the operation of the Fair Access Protocol; and/or,

the In-Year Coordinated Admissions Scheme.

The key principles in the Council’s current policy were:

·       Free travel to “Nearest school” if in excess of statutory walking distances (2 miles if under 8 years of age, 3 miles if 8 to 16 years of age)

·       Post 16 free travel for SEN students to the nearest college/school at which need can be met

·       Providing a spare seat scheme

·       Providing a formal appeals process

Under the Home to School Travel and Transport Policy, children and young people were entitled to free travel which was provided by the most cost-effective means. This was usually by the provision of a free bus pass, however, where numbers were small, children were sometimes transported by taxi. In addition, If parents wanted to take their children to school themselves, the Council may agree to the payment of a mileage allowance. 

If free travel was agreed, children and young people would be expected to use public transport or, if this is unavailable, contracted transport such as a coach or minibus. It was expected up to Year 5, parents would accompany children. Once a child was in Year 6 and above only the child would only receive free travel.

In relation to SEND, the Council has a duty to make suitable arrangements as they deem necessary to facilitate attendance at school for eligible children between the ages of 5-16 (Section 508B of the Education Act, 1996). This transport provision applied if their nearest suitable school was beyond 2 miles (if below the age of 8) or beyond 3 miles (if aged between 8 and 16).

There is a statutory responsibility to make transport arrangements for SEN Pupils who cannot reasonably be expected to walk to school because of their mobility problems or because of associated health and safety issues related to their SEN or disability.

Reference was made to current pupil projections which indicated a 1.2% increase in primary pupil numbers and for secondary school pupils a 7.8% predicted rise between 2020/21 and 2025/26. Longer term, due to the high levels of housing growth planned for the county, projections were that these numbers would increase.

The report provided details on the Councils plans to reach a position where all tendered supported transport services would be carbon neutral.

Work was to commence to understand how the Council could influence the market to reach this position by specifying higher vehicle standards in its tender documents and incentivising the use of cleaner vehicles and practices through its contract award mechanisms. It was hoped this would influence the taxi and coach industry as a whole to reduce its carbon emissions and also to establish best practice for others local authorities to follow.

In relation to the Council’s own internal fleet of around 70 minibuses, there was a commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030.

Issues raised by Members

·       Clarity was required on how the criteria for eligibility of free travel was set and that these were equitable.

·       The Home to School Transport policy does not relate to school catchment areas and there are anomalies such as split village schemes.

·       There were resource implications as the Team was small and it had responsibility for the whole county.

·       The Admissions Policy had to be clear that free school transport was only provided to children when they go to their nearest suitable school and in accordance with the Council’s published Home to School Transport policy.

·       Parental preference had an impact on the policy and it needed to be made clearer to parents the implications when making their preferences.

·       For some schools, the whole County was the catchment area. This needed to be recognised.

·       There needed to more work undertaken in terms of enabling children to cycle, walk or use public transport to schools i.e provision of facilities such as secure cycle sheds in schools.

·       There needed to be more localised SEND Provision in schools which would reduce transport costs.

·       Travel times needed to be reduced in rural areas as buses on the rural network did not travel quickly.

·       Covid has had an impact on delivering training to schools which has affected SEND travel.

·       Reference was made to free travel being made available if the distance from the child’s home to the nearest school is under the statutory walking distance but the route is unsafe to walk. Routes were assessed assuming a responsible adult was available to accompany the child.

·       The spare seats scheme operated on contracted bus routes which were operated for the benefit of those entitled to free transport. Where there were more requests to pay for seats than the number available, there are equitable criteria to determine to which pupils the seats will be offered, which was adopted (outlined in the report).

·       The Home to School Transport policy required review and comparisons should be made with other Councils and what other countries did.

·       The policy should be linked to school travel plans and safer routes to school.

·       Reference was made to Central Government providing the statutory framework for Home to School Travel and Transport, which local authorities must have regard to. 

·       Sixth formers have a high priority for spare seats because the local authority has a legal obligation to ensure access post 16 education.

·       The impact of housing growth and increased pupil numbers needed to be taken into consideration in any policy review.

·       In relation to decarbonisation of all tendered supported transport services, there needed work to be done on the numbers and types of vehicles, including the Council’s own internal fleet of 70 minibuses. Members were informed that there were 130 coaches, 500 cars, 120 minibuses from 140 providers who were working with the Council.  

RESOLVED – (1) That the report and the information presented be noted.

(2) That a Working Group be set up to consider the Home to School Transport Policy and the options for the policy, the impact on carbon emissions, the equalities implications.

(3) That if possible, the Working Group should meet before the next meeting of the Committee to consider the issue and agree a report and any recommendations to the Cabinet for submission to the next meeting of the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee for endorsement.

(4) That the membership of the Home to School Transport Policy Scrutiny Working Party is:

(Cllr Juliette Ash, Cllr Andy Graham, Cllr Kate Gregory and Cllr Michael Waine) with the following terms of reference:

i). to consider the Home to School Transport Policy and the options for any changes to the policy,

ii). to consider the impact on carbon emissions,

iii). to consider the equalities implications.

iv). to agree a report and any recommendations to the Cabinet for submission to the People Overview and Scrutiny Committee for endorsement