Agenda item

To consider PowerPoint presentation.

Note – The Chair will allow 20 minutes for this agenda item.

The Committee received a presentation which provided an update on the school transport project.

Noted that School Travel Cost Management Strategy work had been presented at Scrutiny in October 2022 and the member-supported Task & Finish Group was proposed. In May 2023, Edge Public Solutions published its review of home to school transport in Somerset and this work had also been shared and discussed with the Task and Finish Group and Scrutiny members.

The Committee welcomed and noted the on-going work, successes (licensing) and innovation around procurement.

The Chair welcomed the Council’s Strategic Manager, Head of Education Places, P Curd and the Council’s Service Manager Transporting Somerset, J Perrett to the meeting for this agenda item and which was introduced by the Lead member for Children, Families and Education, Cllr Shearer.

The Committee received a presentation which provided an update on the school transport project.

The Committee discussed the presentation, asked a number of questions and made a number of comments, which were responded to at the meeting:-

·      noted that school transport is a significant cost pressure for the Council (mainstream and specialist settings) and the work being done / intervention to offset cost increases.

·      query about disabled access transport, suitable and needs being met – explained that operators have to meet certain criteria and buses are required to be accessible.

·      the data provided about transport costs is helpful - are performing well per capita head rate compared to comparator authorities; the School Travel Cost Management Strategy work had been presented at Scrutiny in October 2022 and the member-supported Task & Finish Group was proposed. In May 2023, Edge Public Solutions published its review of home to school transport in Somerset and this work had also been shared and discussed with the Task and Finish Group and Scrutiny members; identified a number of supply side initiatives which could result in savings including around procurement; findings from the review helped inform Transport Review Project, overseen by new Transport Board; the new purpose built data dashboard is crucial to decision-making.

·      query if can include for example, data from Devon CC in the comparative data – will see if can pool data from county council’s and add to the dashboard.

·      question about the use and take up of extended / additional transport entitlement grants (page 42) – will respond to query outside of meeting.

·      reverse auctions, SEN contracts and continuity of staff – is condition of contract that they do everything can to maintain that continuity and this is monitored, to see how it works with the 20 contracts that have gone out on that basis.

·      query about access / accessibility to paid seats – advised that the Public Sector Vehicle Accessibility Regulations applies to school transport as well; there are accessible coaches but are very expensive to operate; the situation currently is that have prioritised the routes that go into sixth form schools and still offering pay seats on those routes and using exemptions which are still available to deliver that.

·      query about the costs per head of transporting pupils and whether use existing bus routes – most of the public transport network, particularly that is funded, is focussed on getting students to the 5 FE colleges in Somerset; do buy tickets where can on local bus services.

·      query about safe transport – make use of geo mapping data and as part of the project have undertaken a review of all of those unsafe routes to see if there are corrections which can be made, which can help take vehicles off the road; are working with highways for example, to see if a formal crossing can be put in in one area (Bridgwater) which would result in taking 3 coaches off the road each morning; also working with planning colleagues around new housing developments and safe walking routes to the education infrastructure, so new developments do not result in additional school transport journeys.

·      query about centralised picks ups – have started to introduce more centralised pick up points, where it is appropriate, at risk assessed locations and especially where have a significant amount of scale; will continue to collect children from their home address if centralised pick up is not appropriate for them.

·      questions about the reverse auction process – use knowledge of the transport officers on what the right price should be, which will show if it is too low / high and so far there has not been anything unrealistic ‘in the market; are taking time over this issue and will look at performance, sustainability over period of time.

·      the Chair thanked the officers for the presentation and commended them on the journey and good work, which has been shared at national forum’s, in particular around the data dashboard, which will have a huge impact on ability to target work.

The Committee welcomed and noted the on-going work, successes, for example in licensing, which has resulted in 32 new taxi operators approved and registered since Dec 2023, taking the total to 164 (the highest number ever had) and the innovation around procurement.