Agenda and minutes

* CC M Otter replaced CC D Stansfield for this meeting only.

Also in attendance:

Miss J Mort, Solicitor, Legal and Democratic Services;

Miss H Ishaq, Paralegal Officer, Legal and Democratic Services;

Mr G Halsall, Business Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services; and

Mrs I Winn, Business Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services.

Members are asked to consider any Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests they may have to disclose to the meeting in relation to matters under consideration on the Agenda.

No disclosures of interests were made at the meeting.

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 13th July 2015 be confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on Wednesday the 7^th October 2015 in Cabinet Room 'D' (The Henry Bolingbroke Room) at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Wednesday the 7th October 2015 in Cabinet Room D (The Henry Bolingbroke Room), County Hall, Preston.

The Committee is asked to consider whether, under Section 100A(4) of the Local Government Act 1972, it considers that the public should be excluded from the meeting during consideration of the following item of business on the grounds that there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972 as indicated against the heading of the item and that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information.

Resolved: That the press and public be excluded from the meeting under Section 100A (4) of the Local Government Act, 1972, during consideration of the following item of business as there would be a likely disclosure of exempt information as defined in the appropriate paragraph of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972, as indicated against the heading of the item.

(Not for Publication – Exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.  It is considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interests in disclosing the information).

Please note that due to the confidential nature of the information included in this report it will not be published on the website.

(Note: Reason for exclusion – exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972. It was considered that in all the circumstances of the case the public interest in maintaining the exemption outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information).

A report was presented in respect of 43 appeals against the decision of the County Council to refuse assistance with home to school transport. For each appeal the Committee was presented with a Schedule detailing the grounds for appeal with a response from Officers which had been shared with the relevant appellant.

In considering each appeal the Committee examined all of the information presented and also had regard to the relevant policies, including the Home to Mainstream School Transport Policy for 2014/15, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

Appeal 3774

It was reported that a request for transport assistance had initially been refused as the pupil would not be attending their nearest suitable school, which was 5.3 miles from their home address, and instead would attend their 4th nearest school which was 6.6 miles away.

In considering the appeal the Committee was informed that the mother had been refused free transport assistance to the pupil's geographical priority area (GPA) school, which was the only school in the area served by school transport. In addition two of the nearer schools were not in the borough where the family resided and to reach either of them would necessitate utilizing public transport which would mean that the pupil would arrive late for school.

The Committee was advised that changes in the Home to School Transport Policy, for new entrants from September 2015, had meant that many pupils in the borough were no longer entitled to free transport to their GPA school. Prior to September 2015, the Council had exercised discretion within its transport policy and allowed the payment of travelling expenses to other than the nearest school, where the school attended was the nearest GPA school. This discretion had now been removed for new pupils and the Council was applying the legislation relating to home to school transport, as it is stated in law.

The Committee was informed that the Council had produced its Admission Information for the September 2015 in-take back in September 2014, which was prior to the time the parents had expressed preferences for Secondary School places. It was reported that the Council had drawn to the attention of the mother to Section E on page 16 of the General Admissions Booklet which related to home to school travel. The Committee was advised that Section E had stated the fact the Council had changed its Home to School Transport Policy and in particular made reference to changes relating to geographical priority areas.

With regard to the two nearer schools, the Committee acknowledged the difficulties the mother would have faced if the pupil had attended either of the two  ...  view the full minutes text for item 5.