Agenda and minutes

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Venue: County Mess - The John of Gaunt Room, County Hall, Preston. View directions

Contact: Gary Halsall  Tel: (01772) 531466, Email:  gary.halsall@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

Also in attendance:

 

Ms L Brewer, Solicitor, Legal and Democratic Services;

Mr G Halsall, Complaints and Appeals Officer, Legal and Democratic Services; and

Mrs I Winn, Complaints and Appeals Officer, Legal and Democratic Services.

 

1.

Disclosure of Pecuniary and Non-Pecuniary Interests

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.

Minutes:

None were disclosed.

2.

Minutes of the meeting held on 5 September 2016 pdf icon PDF 263 KB

Minutes:

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 5th September 2016 be confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

 

3.

Urgent Business

An item of urgent business may only be considered under this heading where, by reason of special circumstances to be recorded in the Minutes, the Chair of the meeting is of the opinion that the item should be considered at the meeting as a matter of urgency. Wherever possible, the Chief Executive should be given advance warning of any Member's intention to raise a matter under this heading.

Minutes:

It was noted that the paperwork for appeals 4053, 4061, 4070, 4083 and 4085 had only been finalised after the agenda had been circulated. As a result, the Chair had been consulted and had agreed that these appeals could be presented to the meeting under urgent business in order to avoid any delay in determining them.

 

Resolved: That, appeals 4053, 4061, 4070, 4083 and 4085 as circulated to the Members of the Committee, be considered alongside other appeals at the meeting.

 

4.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 7November 2016 in Room B56, 1st Floor, County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday the 7th November 2016 in Room B15b (unless notified otherwise), County Hall, Preston.

 

5.

Exclusion of the Press and Public

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.

Minutes:

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.

 

6.

Student Support Appeals

(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.

 

Minutes:

(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 22 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 2016/17, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

 

 

Appeal 4102

 

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 2.6002 miles from their home address, and instead would attend their 6th nearest school which was 4.409 miles away. The pupil was therefore not entitled to free transport in accordance with the Council's policy or the law. The family were appealing to the Committee on the grounds that they had extenuating circumstances to warrant the Committee in exercising its discretion and award transport that was not in accordance with the Council's policy or the law.

 

In considering the mother's appeal the Committee noted her grievance in relation to not being eligible for a free bus pass as she was a single parent with four children, two of which were two year old twins. The Committee heard that this made it difficult for her to get around and that she was unable to drive. It was reported that the mother thought the school now attended would be the best for the pupil as there were silly children within the pupil's primary school setting. The mother felt that in order for the pupil to reach their potential, it was important to avoid those children when the time came for transfer in to secondary education. The Committee noted that the pupil had a grandparent who worked close to the school now attended and would be available for support if needed.

 

In considering the appeal further the mother had claimed that if the pupil had attended the local school of the same faith as the school now attended this would have been the "feeder school" and that having attended a different school of a different faith which was not too distant from the "feeder school" she felt that there was not much difference.

 

Whilst the Committee noted the officer's comments in relation to the mother's three preferences for transfer and that the pupil would have been offered a place at all three schools had any of them been put down as their first preference, it was  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.