Agenda and minutes

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Venue: CHG06 - County Hall, Preston

Contact: Artur Ogonowski, Hina Visavadia  Tel: (01772) 537986, Email:  appeals@lancashire.gov.uk

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

CC Yousuf Motala substituted by CC Carl Crompton

Minutes:

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 4th December 2017

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 4th December 2017 be confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 04th December 2017 be 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:

None

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 12th March 2018 at County Hall, Preston (room to be confirmed).

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10:00am on Monday 12th March 2018, (room to be confirmed) 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 100(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: Reasons 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 33 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 2017/18, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Education Needs for 2013/14.

 

 

 

Appeal 4343 and 4343a

It was reported that a request for transport assistance had initially been refused as the pupils would not be attending their nearest suitable school, which was 0.69 miles from their home address and instead would attend their 10th nearest school which is 2.77 miles away.  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 summary of the appeal, the Committee noted that the family had to move to an address further from the school currently attended, not through choice as stated by the appellant.  The committee noted that the appellant states they have been trying to find a property closer to the school.  The appellant states that it is too far to walk to the school now attended by the pupils and the appellant cannot afford bus fares as they are in receipt of benefits. The appellant stated that bus fares for all three children and for themselves would cost them £42.00 per week.

The Committee have considered the officer's comments which stated that transport assistance has been refused as the pupils are not attending their nearest suitable school.

It was noted by the Committee that the County Council's Home to School Transport Policy does have a discretionary element for families that relocate but only when a child is in either Year 10 or 11 and has started work on GCSE's and where the pupil had previously attended their nearest school and was in receipt of free school meals or the qualifying benefits.  The Committee noted that the pupil is currently in Year 10 and that at the time the family relocated in February 2017 the pupil was in year 9 so would not qualify for free transport.

The Committee had noted the officer's comments stating that any family moving from one area to another does not come with an award for free transport and that any transport assistance is assessed from the  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.