Agenda and minutes

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Venue: County Hall, Preston

Contact: Iris Winn  Tel: (01772) 537986, Email:  appeals@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

None Received

Minutes:

CC: J Mein replaced CC: Y Motala

2.

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

3.

Minutes of the meeting held on Monday 5th November 2018

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 5th November 2018 to be confirmed as an accurate record and to be signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 5th November 2018 was confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

4.

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 4592, 4597 & 4608 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 it.

 

Resolved: That, appeals 4592, 4597 & 4608 were circulated to the Members of the Committee, to be considered alongside other appeals at the meeting.

5.

Date of the next meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am Monday January 14th 2019. 

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday 14th January 2019 Room 2, Exchange, 4th Floor at County Hall, Preston

 

6.

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.

 

7.

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 21 appeals and 3 urgent business 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 2018/19, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

 

 

 

 

Appeal 4491

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 1.1 miles from their home address.  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 appellant's appeal the committee noted that the family had moved address due to purchasing their first home this has resulted in financial stress.  The appellant states that due to financial circumstances they cannot afford the cost of the bus pass for the pupil to attend school.  The appellant wished that the pupil continued to attend the same school as it was the school of the families chosen faith. 

The Policy states that transport assistance will only be applied to those children who attend their nearest qualifying school The Committee noted that the family selected the school attended as 1st preference and as such was offered a place at this school in the admissions round.  The committee were advised that there was another school nearer to the home address of the appellant with places available for the pupil to attend.

The committee noted that the appellant states that the parents work long hours and the pupil comes home to an empty house and that for the families' peace of mind the family wished that the pupil travels on the bus.  The committee noted that it is the responsibility of the parent/carers to ensure that children arrive safe at school.  There is no dispensation for parents or carers who due to work commitments or other commitments i.e. taking other children to school are unable to transport children to and from school, the committee note that in these instances that parents/carers are expected to make suitable arrangements to ensure that pupils in their care  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.