Agenda and draft minutes

Venue: By Teams. View directions

Contact: Wyn Richards, Scrutiny Manager and Head of Democratic Services 

Items
No. Item

1.

Apologies

To receive apologies for absence.

Minutes:

Apologies for absence were received from Dr C. Turner (Chief Executive) and L. Lovell (Interim Chief Education Officer)

2.

Declarations of interest

To receive declarations of interest from Members.

Minutes:

There were no declarations of interest from Members relating to any matters to be considered on the agenda.

3.

Declarations of Party Whip

To receive disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.

 

(NB: Members are reminded that under Section 78 Members having been given a prohibited party whip cannot vote on a matter before the Committee.)

Minutes:

There were no disclosures of prohibited party whips which a Member has been given in relation to the meeting in accordance with Section 78(3) of the Local Government Measure 2011.

4.

Scrutiny of the School Transport Policy pdf icon PDF 150 KB

To scrutinise the School Transport Policy and to make observations / recommendations to the Cabinet for consideration.

Additional documents:

Minutes:

Documents Considered:

·                     Draft Cabinet Report

·                     Revised Home to School Transport Policy

 

Issues Discussed:

·                     As part of the transformation process, various policies such as this being reviewed. The areas of change were highlighted in the draft Cabinet report.

·                     Policy (para 1.3 / 1.4) – SEN / ALN – there is no change to provision. Less detail has been included in the document.

 

·                     Questions:

Definition of catchment school – this is still not clear. What is the closest catchment school and how are distances measured?

Measured by the nearest available route i.e. highway or byway to the school gate, not as the crow flies.

In terms of catchment this does not make sense. There is a need to make this clearer in the document as parents will be concerned about this.

The catchment area is an education definition, the transport just provides transport to a school. This is not a change to the current policy. Some primary schools flow into individual Secondary Schools, others flow into 1 or more schools. Until the transformation has been sorted out the existing practice remains in place.

There needs to be clarity about what is the catchment and what school pupils can attend in Powys. There is an absence of information about what routes are being used and what this means on the ground. How is this information being made available to parents.

This can be reviewed. There are details in the admissions process regarding which school a child can attend, and what might be required is where transport is available to which school.

The concern is that as transformation progresses, the information becomes more confusing. Can the GIS (Geographical Information System) information be made available on the Council's website?

The admissions policy should be driving the transport policy. Any decision on this policy will not be implemented until September 2021 and the policy will be reviewed on a regular basis during the transformation process. There is a need to review that information to parents is accessible and the policy will come back to scrutiny as transformation progresses.

Is transport provided for LAC pupils who have moved paid from the education or Social care budgets? Previously there was an issue where a child moved by Social Services, taxis were provided paid by the education budget.

From April 2019 the transport budget was moved from Education to the Transport Section. For Social care, no transport is arranged without appropriate budget codes. If urgent it can be provided but there is reconciliation of budgets later. Para 1.3 of the document also means that where a child has to be moved for a number of reasons, the child can be moved to a school outside of the criteria if it meets their welfare needs.

Scrutiny needs more clarity on the interaction between the transport and social care budgets.

The interest of the child is always paramount and there is a need to fund any policy correctly.

Social care needs to be mindful of costs wherever they place a child.  ...  view the full minutes text for item 4.

5.

Work Programme

The next meeting of the Committee will be on:

 

15 June 2020

1.00 p.m. to 2.00 p.m.

Item:    ALN / SEN

 

Further meetings will be held on:

 

22 June 2020

1.00 p.m. 2.00 p.m.

Item: Briefing on School Transformation

6 July 2020

1.00 p.m. 2.00 p.m.

 

20 July 2020

1.00 p.m. 2.00 p.m.

 

 

 

Minutes:

The Committee noted the schedule of meetings and work programme