Agenda and minutes

Also in attendance:

Ms L Brewer, Solicitor, Legal and Democratic Services;

Mr G Halsall, Business Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services; and

Mrs I Winn, Business Support Officer, Legal and Democratic Services.

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.

None were disclosed.

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 18th January 2016 be confirmed as an accurate record and be signed by the Chair.

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.

It was noted that the paperwork for appeals 3961 and 3799 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 3961 and 3799 as circulated to the Members of the Committee, be considered alongside other appeals at the meeting.

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 25^th April 2016 in Room B15b at County Hall, Preston.

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday the 25th April 2016 in Room B15b, 1st Floor County Hall, Preston.

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.

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.

(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.

(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 6 appeals and 2 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 2015/16, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

Appeal 3911

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 3.22 miles from their home address, and instead would attend their 4th nearest school which was 4.81 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.

The Clerk informed the Committee that the mother had provided further information to support her appeal. Copies of the additional information were handed out to members at the meeting.

In considering the mother's appeal the Committee noted that the pupil during their primary education had changed schools due to allegations of bullying incidents. The mother stated that the perpetrators now attended what she felt was the nearest secondary school and that this constituted exceptional mitigating circumstances for her choice of the school now attended as she felt that it would cause unnecessary stress and anxiety if the pupil had to attend the same school as the perpetrators. Whilst the Committee acknowledged the mother's account of the bullying allegations no evidence or information had been provided from the primary school where the incidents had occurred. Neither was there any information or evidence to support the mother's case from the primary school where the pupil was transferred to and received help with their therapy. The Committee noted that the allegations related to incidents that occurred in 2012, and that the mother had specifically named the perpetrators in her supplementary information. The Committee felt that it should have received information from the school previously attended.

The Committee noted that the appeal application form had been signed on the 3rd September 2015 and that the appeal schedule had been signed on 18th December 2015. The Committee felt that given the amount of time that had passed,  ...  view the full minutes text for item 6.