Agenda item

The Director of SEND, Early Help and Education submits a report on Home to School Travel for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities, to provide the Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission with an update on the home to school and college travel provision, and costs for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Director of SEND, Early Help and Education submitted a report on Home to School Travel for Children and Young People with Special Educational Needs & Disabilities, to provide the Children, Young People and Education Scrutiny Commission with an update on the home to school and college travel provision, and costs for children and young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND).

The Director of Education SEND and Early Help introduced the report.  Key points included:

• There was a statutory duty to provide transport assistance to children with SEND that fit certain criteria.  The criteria in the policy were clear and the policy was consulted on publicly.
• The report looked at ways in which the Council could help children get to school. 
• The first offer was usually to offer parents and guardians a transport budget if they fit the right criteria, so the parents would be responsible for transport.  If this was not possible then buses were considered as an option.  Where busses were not an option, the cases would be assessed, and the children transported by taxi.
• Costs had accelerated, the £13.6million to transport Children and Young People in 2022/23 had come from the General Fund.  It had been identified that this was a large spend area and something that needed to be reviewed.
• There was a workstream around school transport for SEND children and the solutions were multifaceted.  Solutions considered included looking at ways the personal transport budget could be used and increasing travel training and investing in working with schools, as travel was an important life skill to build with children.
• A project to increase Designated Specialist Provisions (DSP) is ongoing, which increased opportunities for SEND children to go to specialist places at a local school.  120 extra DSP places had been delivered in Phase 1.  Phase 2 to deliver 150 additional placements is now mid-way through and a further 70-80 places had been managed so far.
• The way that the bus fleet was used was considered, with capacity building and training to help understanding of special needs.  Additionally, pickup points and the way children were getting on buses was considered.
• Schools were being worked with on creative solutions to transport children with individualised solutions around schools.
• It was hoped that the above would reduce the reliance on taxis.
• Travel costs were a national challenge and not unique to Leicester.

The Committee were invited to ask questions and make comments. Key points included:

• Travel training and DSP aimed at reducing the reliance on council buses and taxis, however, it was noted that the aim to increase the in-house bus fleet was because it was recognised that there was always a need, and busses were more cost-effective than taxis.
• Regarding evidence that the facilities in schools were working, Ofsted reports had been overwhelmingly positive and supportive.  Nationally it was evident that children achieve better long term outcomes when educated in mainstream schools and there are examples of children who had previously been allocated a placement in special schools achieving well in DSPs.
• It was noted that travel budgets were aimed at covering more than fuel costs, such as maintenance and depreciation of cars through milage.
• When parents and guardians were given a transport budget, it was up to them how the budget was used, but it was their responsibility to get children to school.  Flexible and creative ways of using personal budgeting were being considered.
• The use of school staff to transport children was being considered.
• Government funding applications for electric school busses could be considered.
• In terms of risk-assessments, escorts were needed to help allow drivers to concentrate on driving.  The best and most safe ways were being considered.
• Figures on how much bursary funding was available to post-16 students would be obtained.
• A bus service in the style of the city-centre ‘Hop’ bus could be considered for use for school transport, however, it needed to be recognised that the spread of schools across the city would be a challenge.
• Work was being undertaken on why children were needing to go to settings outside Leicester. 
• It was clarified that in the Autumn 2023 figures, there were 182 students aged 0-18 attending independent special schools and 103 students age 18+ attending independent special schools, however, these were not necessarily long-distance journeys as some were located within Leicester.
• With regard to a query on which parent or guardian was responsible for travel arrangements if the child lived at multiple addresses, clarification would be sought following the meeting.
• It was clarified that Passenger Assistants ensured that children were safe so that drivers could concentrate on driving.  This was not necessarily with regard to public transport.
• It was asked as to whether it would be possible to increase the personal transport budgets as an incentive for people to take them up so as to reduce taxi use, which was seen as more costly to the Council.

AGREED:

1)    That the report be noted.

2)    That comments made by members of this commission to be taken into account by the lead officers.

The Youth Representatives left the meeting during the discussion of this item.