Agenda item

Recommendations

That the Executive considers the report and proposes to adopt a new home to school travel policy including consideration of each of the following recommendations to Full Council:

i)                 to retain this extended eligibility in reception year as part of the future travel policy.

ii)                to retain this extended eligibility in Year 3 as part of the future travel policy.

iii)              to remove transport assistance to second address as part of the future travel policy.

iv)              to remove travel assistance to children attending designated religious character primary schools as part of the future travel policy.

v)               a proposal that travel on transition is assessed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the EHCP as part of the future policy.

vi)              amend the criterion to match the statutory requirement, meaning that in future eligibility on catchment grounds would no longer apply as part of the future travel policy.

vii)             use its discretionary powers to extend the eligibility for travel assistance for secondary age pupils from low income families to attend one of their three nearest suitable schools provided it is more than 2 miles but not more than 12 miles (an increase from 6 miles) from their home as part of the future travel policy.

Considered – A report of the Corporate Director Children and Young People’s Service for recommendation to full Council on 24 July 2024 for approval of proposed amendments to the Home to School Travel Policy following public consultation. 

Sixteen public statements and questions had been received, ten of which were read out at the meeting as detailed at Minute 498, the remaining six were circulated to Executive Members before the meeting. 

The Executive Member for Education, Learning and Skills introduced the report and gave an overview of the key points, as summarised below:

·        Last year the Department for Education revised the statutory guidance in relation to home to school transport, which the Council has a statutory duty to provide to eligible children, and the proposed amendments were to ensure the Council complied with this amended guidance

·        Home to school transport is the third largest item of expenditure for the Council at £51m and the cost has doubled since 2018/19.  North Yorkshire Council is one of the highest spending councils in the country on this. 

·        The current population of 5-16 year olds in the county is 75,000 and 10,000 access free travel

·        The current policy makes provision for eligibility above statutory requirements and the consultation requested views on six discretionary elements.  A summary of responses to the consultation was provided in section 5 of the report

·        Currently some children had eligibility for more than one school where their catchment school was not their nearest school.  It was proposed that children would only be eligible for free transport to their nearest school, which would address an anomaly and provide greater equality

·        For some addresses an out of County school would be the nearest school, and the Council was obliged to cover the cost to such schools.  This also applied where a NYC school was the nearest school to a child living outside of the County, where their Council would have to pay for travel to an NYC school

·        Section 5.19 of the report addressed safety issues relating to routes, roads, vehicle size and weather conditions and the commissioning arrangements would take these factors into account

·        Section 5.3 of the report addressed support for low income families where eligibility was extended to choose from one of three near schools between 2 and 12 miles radius to enable them to exercise meaningful preferences, an increase from the current 6 miles

·        These actions were being taken to ensure that the home to school travel provision was efficient and provided value for money

Councillors Stuart Parsons, David Ireton and Paul Haslam were in attendance at the meeting and addressed the Executive with the permission of the chair.  Concern was expressed over the loss of inward investment following reductions in school funding due to falling pupil numbers leading to concerns over the viability of some rural schools.  It was felt that the proposals would lead to a reduction in choice for families and a detrimental effect on communities and the viability of development of affordable housing in the dales.  Councillor Simon Myers confirmed that the most disadvantaged households would see an increase in their ability to make use of free home to school transport under the proposed policy.

Members of the Executive then debated the matter and key points made were as follows:

·        It would cost the council more to deliver services across a rural county, and this was not taken into account in the Council’s funding allocation

·        The Council needed to ensure it operated within its budget to ensure the long-term financial security of the Council

·        When changes had been made to travel to faith schools in an earlier amendment to the policy concerns that such schools may no longer be viable had proved to be unfounded

·        At the end of the 7-year transition period the annual saving could be £4.2m, to offset against a recurring deficit of £48m

Councillor Wilkinson thanked those attending for their contributions to the discussion and added that this was an emotive and difficult decision, made necessary due to the state of the Council’s finances.  The policy would be phased in over several years to allow children to remain at the same school and eligibility had been increased for those on lower incomes.  She would work with the Executive Member for Highways and Transportation to ensure that safety remained a key consideration in the procurement of transport for travel to schools.

Resolved (unanimously) – that:

It be recommended to Full Council that a new home to school travel policy be adopted and the following recommendations be made to Full Council:

i)                 to retain this extended eligibility in reception year as part of the future travel policy.

ii)                to retain this extended eligibility in Year 3 as part of the future travel policy.

iii)              to remove transport assistance to second address as part of the future travel policy.

iv)              to remove travel assistance to children attending designated religious character primary schools as part of the future travel policy.

v)               a proposal that travel on transition is assessed on a case-by-case basis in accordance with the EHCP as part of the future policy.

vi)              amend the criterion to match the statutory requirement, meaning that in future eligibility on catchment grounds would no longer apply as part of the future travel policy.

vii)             use its discretionary powers to extend the eligibility for travel assistance for secondary age pupils from low income families to attend one of their three nearest suitable schools provided it is more than 2 miles but not more than 12 miles (an increase from 6 miles) from their home as part of the future travel policy.