Agenda and minutes

CC C Wakeford

CC J Cooney

CC Christian Wakeford

CC Joe Cooney

CC Yousuf Motala

CC Malcolm Barron

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.

Resolved: That the minutes of the meeting held on 3^rd September 2018 is to be confirmed as an accurate record and to be signed by the Chair.

Resolved: That; the Minutes of the meeting held on the 03^rd September 2018 confirmed as an accurate record and 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.

SEN cases

The next scheduled meeting of the Committee will be held at 10.00am on the 5^th November at County Hall, Preston (room to be confirmed).

It was noted that the next meeting of the Committee would be held at 10.00am on Monday 05^th November 2018, CH1:15 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(Not for Publication – Exempt information as defined in Paragraphs 1 and 3 of Part 1 of Schedule 12A to the Local Government Act, 1972.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 17 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 for2018/19, and the Policy in relation to the transport of pupils with Special Educational Needs for 2013/14.

Appeal 4499

It was reported that a request for transport assistance had initially been refused as the pupils would not be attending any one of the three nearest suitable schools, which are between 1.4 miles and 2.4miles, respectively, from their home address and instead would attend the school of parental preference which is 2.9 miles away.  The appellant was 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 was appealing on financial grounds and had provided a copy of their benefit review which expired on 05 April 2018.

The Officer's comments stated, as noted by the Committee, low income families have extended rights to free travel to their three nearest schools within 2-6miles form the home address.  However, even if the appellant was in receipt of the maximum amount of Working Tax Credit, there are still several schools closer to the home than the school attended.

The Committee noted, the officer's comments stated even if the school attended by the pupils was the closest to home, in light of it being under 3 miles walk from home to school, appellant would still have no statutory entitlement to free home to school transport as at 2.9 miles, the distance is under the statutory walking distance. 

The Committee noted the pupils were not in receipt of free school meals. The tax credit information supplied by the appellant was awarded from 06/04/2017 to 05/04/2018. No up to date tax credit award details were submitted by the appellant.  The Committee were unable to determine the family's financial circumstances and noted that they were not in a position to decide if the family were on a low income as defined in law. No financial information was submitted to the Committee to state that that the appellant is unable to afford the cost of a travel pass to the chosen school.

It is also acknowledged by the Committee that there are schools closer to the home  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7.