Agenda and minutes

Members of the public are welcome to attend our meetings to watch them in person at any of the venues across the County. Publicly accessible meetings held in County Hall will be webcast, which means they are available to be watched live or recorded on our website. Please see our webcasting notice here. The Committee may, in certain circumstances, resolve to hold part of the meeting in private. If this is the case, you will be required to leave the meeting.

Venue: CH1:01 - County Hall, Preston. View directions

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

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

None

Minutes:

CC C Wakeford

CC J Cooney

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 Novemebr

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 4th November were confirmed as an accurate record and was signed by the Chair.

Minutes:

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 4th November 2019 were confirmed as an accurate record and were 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:

4764

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 20th January 2019 - County Hall, Preston.

Minutes:

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 20th January 2020 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 8 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 4684

It was reported that a request for transport assistance had initially been refused as the pupil would be attending their nearest suitable school, which was 1.49 miles from the home address, and within the statutory walking distance of under 3 miles. The pupil was therefore not entitled to free transport in accordance with the Council's policy or the law.

 

The appellant stated, as noted by the Committee, that their partner lived in the family home but had no parental responsibility towards the pupil.  The partner was unable to walk the pupil to school due to their own medical conditions.  The appellant was the pupil's carer.

 

It was noted by the Committee, the appellant had completed the Financial Section of the Appeal Form, stating they worked part time but was currently claiming sickness benefit at the moment.  The appellant also explained that their partner did not work.  The family had a joint Universal Credit account and full financial details were recorded on supplementary evidence provided.  With the amount left once their outgoings were paid, the family were unable to pay for a taxi themselves.

 

The Committee noted the main focus of the appeal surrounded the family's medical situation:-

 

The pupil suffered with severe mental health issues and was currently on the waiting list for CAMHS which was confirmed in the supplementary evidence provided by the appellant.  The report from ACCESS outlined the difficulties faced by the pupil and the family.  Important factors were raised on the supplementary evidence. 

 

Fuller, more personal information was included on the supplementary evidence. The appellant explained the lengths they had gone to, to take the pupil to school themselves.

 

The pupil struggles with sleeping and waking and the appellant outlined the logistical difficulties of getting ready for school on a daily basis.

 

The appellant has had an operation and was currently awaiting a further one. 

 

The family has a CAF and TAF of which copies were attached.

 

The family were supported by Health and Education Professionals.

 

Diagnosis of ASD which was confirmed on the report of 30 May 2019  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.