Agenda item

The Cabinet considered a joint report of the Corporate Director of Children and Young People’s Services, the Corporate Director of Regeneration, Economy and Growth and the Corporate Director of Resources which presented the outcomes of the public consultation on the Home to School Transport Service (for copy see file of minutes).

Councillor T Henderson, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Children and Young Peoples Services explained that Home to School Transport was a vital service provided to many families to ensure that children and young people could attend school in a safe way. It was a complex operation and involved delivering 1000 transport routes, working with 300 contractors and suppliers. Growing demand has, through inflation, increased the costs of the service from £23.4m in 2022/23, £3.9m above the budget. The budget for 2023/23 had further increased to £29.1m to reflect estimated increases in demand and cost pressures. Whilst the County Council must meet their statutory duties in providing free transport to children and young people who meet specific criteria, it was vital to look at the sustainability of the service and explore positive opportunities to transform provision and control expenditure. The 2021 review of the service identified that the Council currently provided transport services that went beyond the Council’s statutory duty. These services were not provided in most other County Councils. Consultation had taken place on a range of proposals to seek the stakeholder views on how best to transform the service. The proposals were aimed at supporting the Council’s environmental policies, being safe for providers and users of the service, meet identified needs of the young people, supporting the independence of young people where it was appropriate and delivering efficiency and value for money. Feedback to the consultation had been very supportive of most of the Council’s proposals and provided a strong basis on which to develop a transformation programme for the service. The Council had also listened to the stakeholder feedback in relation to the proposed fee of £2.80 per day for the concessionary scheme and reduced the charge to £2.00 per day.

Councillor R Bell, Deputy Leader of the Council and Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Finance explained that the Council is faced with unprecedented pressures on financing of services. Home to School transport services expenditure had doubled over a period of four years to levels where it was simply no longer affordable. The report proposed transformation priorities for the next few years to tackle increasing expenditure and demand.

Councillor E Scott, Cabinet Portfolio Holder for Economy and Partnerships explained that the report provided a clear overview of the challenges being experienced by all Councils across the country. Worldwide events had escalated over the last 18 months which had impacted on transport providers, especially in relation to the recruitment and retention of drivers and operating costs. Feedback to the consultation highlighted the need to balance the individual needs of the safety of young people. The report provided opportunities to do things differently and maintain a strong transport market whilst offering a balanced programme of work to ensure that the Council complied with its statutory duties whilst developing aspects of provision which could be done more efficiently.

Councillor Scott highlighted that it was imperative that the Council moved swiftly to implement recommendations to ensure a sustainable and robust service.

Resolved:

That the recommendations in the report be approved.