Agenda and minutes

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Venue: County Hall, Preston

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

Media

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

None

Minutes:

None

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 1st September 2020

Minutes:

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 1st September 2020 were confirmed as

anaccurate record and was 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:

4871

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on Monday 9th November 2020 – By Virtual Remote Hearing (Conference Call).

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on Monday 9th November 2020 – By Virtual Remote Hearing (Conference Call).

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:

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.

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:

 

 

4847

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 0.90 miles and within the statutory walking distance to the home address , and instead would attend school which was 6.74 miles from the 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.

The Committee noted the appellant's summary which stated the family were appealing on:

 

Financial Grounds:  The appellants don't work and are in receipt of Universal Credit, the committee note that the appellant has provided evidence of this.

Medical Grounds:  The appellants are also appealing on Medical grounds and state that the pupil suffered from health issues and evidence had been provided to support this.  The appellant have also provided Disability benefits received for the pupil.  The family state that there was no help from extended family, friends or neighbours to support the pupil to get to and from school. 

Education Continuity Grounds: The appellant advised that pupil had family and school friends that attended the school the pupil was attending starting September 2020 in year 7 and that this is a factor in attending the chosen school as the pupil finds it hard to make new friends.

Other Exceptional Reasons:  The appellant advised that the mother had health issues which was why they were unable to work and that her husband was currently off work awaiting an operation after which they will be returning to work.  The appellant stated they cannot afford the bus fare and they wanted the pupil to attend the school of their preference as other family members attended there. 

The appellant, as noted by the Committee, was requesting transport from the beginning of the new school year until the pupil left school.

The committee note that the pupil does not attend one of their 3 closest schools to the home address and although would qualify for transport assistance on low income grounds, schools should be within 2 to 6 miles of the home address.  The school attended as noted by the committee was over 6 miles and not one of the 3 nearer schools to the home address.  The committee note that the family are appealing on financial grounds and that the family have included evidence of their income to support this, however the committee note that although the family are in receipt of benefits that the pupil has had an award made for his disability in the way of a care component (middle Rate) and also a mobility component (lower Rate).  The committee considered this and noted that an award had already been made by the DWP and that the Mobility award  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.