Agenda and minutes

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Venue: CH1:15 - County Hall, Preston

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

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

None

Minutes:

None received

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 were declared.

3.

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 4527 & 31362 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.

 

4.

The minutes of the meeting held on 1st October 2018

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 1st October 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 the1st October 2018  was confirmed as an accurate record and was signed by the Chair and also counter signed by CC Cheetham.

 

5.

Date of the Next Meeting

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 3rd December 2018 at County Hall (CH1:15 – first floor, Pitt Street entrance) Preston.

Minutes:

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday 3rd December 2018, 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 23 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 2018/19, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

 

Appendix A

 

Appeal 4493

 

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 0.5 miles from their home address, and instead would attend their 13th nearest school which was 5.37 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.

 

In considering the appellant's appeal the committee noted that the family had moved address and that the appellant wished that the pupil continued to attend the same school.  The appellant went onto state that the pupil's parent had died suddenly in 2016 and left no insurance cover for the family which had resulted in the move of address. 

 

The Policy states that transport assistance will only be applied to those children who attend their nearest suitable school that can provide suitable education for their age/aptitude etc.  The Committee noted that the family stated the school attended as 1st preference and as such was awarded this school on admission.

 

In considering the appeal further the Committee considered the family's circumstances noted that they were not in a position to decide if the family were on a low income as defined in law. No evidence had been provided to suggest that the family were unable to fund the cost of transport to school. It was also noted that the family were not eligible for Free School Meals.  The Committee considered all evidence submitted by the appellant and did sympathise with the difficult circumstances that the family had gone through.  However it was noted by the committee that the family had moved further away from the school than the previous address.

 

Therefore, having considered all of the appellant's comments and the officer responses as set out in the Appeal Schedule, application  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.