To receive a report on Home to School Transport from the Director of Education, Standards, Quality and Performance and the Head of Education Places, Access and Vulnerable Children.

The Head of Education Places, Access, and Vulnerable Children introduced the report which gave an overview of how the local authority was meeting its duties in relation to the provision of travel assistance for eligible children, young people, and adults to access education and training. Members were reminded that although the report focussed on SEND, provisions were also available for eligible mainstream pupils.

The Head spoke of the 14% increase in the last two years of the number of SEND passengers and highlighted that this continued to be an area of budgetary pressure. Eligibility criteria was also cited, with the Head acknowledging that a lot of the criteria was set nationally. Trafford however had identified three discretionary criteria within its policy for which there was no statutory duty to provide transport for.

It was drawn to the Committee’s attention that new systems had recently been procured to increase efficiencies within the service, including a new system for the management of applications, introduced Summer 2024, which had seen some administrative savings and experience improvements for parents. Additionally, new industry standard software was being rolled out school-by-school to optimise routes, which had seen modest savings. The Head noted that savings had been offset by the increased need for funding.

Work ongoing with regards to licensing was discussed, with the Head noting that spot checks had been implemented, jointly with Licensing and Education as well as DVLA colleagues, at school gates and operator premises. Councillor Hirst identified that some concerning cases had previously been brought to the Licensing Committee, and queried whether these new processes would help with some of those issues. The Head commented that the new procedures would allow it to be identified when a driver’s license had expired or been revoked, and to react quickly. The Corporate Director for Children’s Services echoed this and emphasised that joint working and quality assurance processes were being strengthened, and that the vulnerability of the children being transported was recognised.

Councillor Hirst asked about children who are new to home to school transport and what was in place to help them with this transition. The Councillor also wondered about families that moved to temporary accommodation and therefore may be further away from school and need to start transport or move out of Trafford. The Members asked whether they would be at risk of losing their provision. The Head confirmed that work happened in partnership with schools for children starting transport, including social stories. Generic social stories had been created which families and schools could adapt out. With regards to families in temporary accommodation, the Head affirmed that moving out of the area does not drop a family’s eligibility for home to school transport, but the responsibility for the provision moves to the new local authority. It was also advised that if a family moves further away from their school and a child can no longer travel independently, a new request would be submitted which would be taken on its own merit under the new living circumstances.

Councillor Procter was interested in the appeals that had been received, with the report noting that there had been 35 appeals at stage one, with 6 progressing to stage two (none of which were upheld). The Councillor asked what sort of reasons parents had for appealing. The Director of Education Standards, Quality and Performance responded with examples such as the safety of routes and the length of journey times, with some children being tired when getting to school. The Director also reported that there had been an increase in the number of cases where social, emotional, and mental health difficulties (SEMH) had been cited.

At this point in the meeting, the Vice Chair circulated papers to members with several questions posed by members of the public. It was agreed these questions would be taken away by the officers for consideration, and detailed responses shared with the committee outside of the meeting.

RESOLVED:

(1)  That the report be noted.

(2)  That written responses posed to questions provided by the Vice Chair be circulated to members.