Apologies for absence were noted.

Karen Adams was unable to attend the meeting and Michelle Rooney would be attending in her place.

There were no declarations of interest in any item on the agenda.

To follow

The minutes of the meeting of 19^th April 2012 were tabled at the meeting for circulation and would be approved at the next meeting.

To follow

Approval of the minutes of the meeting held on 22^nd May 2012 was deferred to the next meeting.

The Chair referred to the briefing notes prepared by Deepa Patel, Scrutiny Officer, and reminded Members that the focus of this meeting was to consider the amendments to the interim SEN Transport policy and also give comments on the draft West London Alliance SEN Policy which would be consulted on in the Autumn. The Chair emphasised that individual cases could not be discussed especially in light of the judicial review that was currently underway.

The Chair welcomed Judith Pettersen, Director of Children’s Services & Lifelong Learning (CSLL) and Merle Abbott, Head of Access and Inclusion to update members on the new policy for provision of School Transport assistance.

The Director of CSLL said that this was an interim School Transport policy following annual review of the existing policy.  As the Council would need to consult on the West London Alliance policy which was to be put in place there needed to be something to fill the gap in the interim. She said that the group hoped to consult on the new West London Alliance Policy in the autumn and present it to Scrutiny for their comments.

Merle Abbot provided members with a copy of the interim policy with track changes marked, to highlight amendments to the original policy.  Merle Abbot told members that she would summarise the impact of the changes on the policy and clarify why changes were being proposed.  There were five areas affected by significant changes:

1.      Strengthen the way in which the policy meets the Equalities Act 2010 duties. The Act  had come in subsequent to the policy first being agreed.  The Department had now had 3 terms to assess the impact of the applied policy and identify areas where it needed to be amended to reflect the reality of the current situation on the ground.  A review also complied with annual review requirements. 

2.      Remove the reference to children being provided with a seat on council vehicle as a means of travel support in “exceptional circumstances”.  This clarifies the fact that the decision on what type of transport assistance needed is  based on the individual child’s needs and the child’s circumstances. Since 2006 all school age children have been entitled to a TfL travel pass.  The majority of children would be able to access public transport free of charge.  The policy now makes clear that transport assistance is only provided if eligible.

3.      In relation to pick up points; remove reference to “exceptional” as this is not in line with assessing needs on an individual policy. Previously, the policy  stated that children would only be picked up from home in “exceptional circumstances”.  It needed to be clear that pick up from home was not just in exceptional circumstances but where the needs of the child required it.

4.      Remove the word exceptional for home pick up assessments.

5.      A parent/carer has to agree to transport their own children I they do not want the LA to make arrangements. The LA can cover  ...  view the full minutes text for item 66.

Members then moved on the West London Alliance Policy for School Transport Assistance.

Judith Pettersen provided an overview of the WLA Transport programme she was leading on, on behalf of  West London Alliance to provide a common School Transport Assistance policy for participating boroughs.  A key part was sharing routes between authorities to reduce costs by working out the most effective routes/combination of children for the journey. The policy was also designed to provide a consistent approach across boroughs and ensure where children are travelling to one school they are travelling together. A consistent policy would also mean a consistent assessment.

Judith Pettersen and Merle Abbot talked through the the draft policy (agenda Item 5a) on page 16 and gave the following responses to questions from members:

        Travelling independently is an objective of the West London policy. The policy made clear the circumstances in which the Council deemed it necessary to provide additional support for pupils to have safe access to public transport.

        Both the Interim policy and the West London Alliance (WLA) policy would go to Cabinet on 31^st July 2012.  Cabinet would be asked to adopt the interim policy and authorise consultation on the WLA policy in September 2012.  The interim policy would apply to transport assistance for Autumn Term.  The new WLA policy was expected to be implemented in April 2013 and apply to children starting school in September 2013.

        The WLA policy would deliver savings but the primary purpose was to operate a consistent policy across the participating boroughs in a more efficient manner which would also provide savings.

        Judith Pettersen said that she would be happy to provide policy update reports for future panel meetings.

        Following discussion with Cllr Curran, the mileage reimbursement would be increased to 45p per mile.  This was based on recent petrol prices and assessed to be reasonable and fair. There is no standard mileage rate for council staff on council business. It depends on the mileage. After a certain number of miles it goes down.

        The issue of provision of transport assistance for pre-school aged children was addressed on page 11 (26 of the agenda) of the policy.

        Risk assessment of pick up points had been carried out in collaboration with Health and safety and the Transport Team. Pick up assessment forms had been reviewed to make it more specific including the issue of a safe waiting place.

        Parents would be reimbursed costs up front in the first instance.  This would be adjusted according to attendance in the next payment.

Cllr Vaught suggested that parents may be encouraged to take their child to school and spend more quality time with them if the mileage rate was enhanced which would lessen the expense to the Council.

The Chair thanked Merle Abbot and Judith Pettersen for attending today to update members of the School Transport Assistance policy.

Michelle Rooney left the meeting at 8.00pm

The Panel at their previous meeting had requested feedback on two items that they had initially expressed an interest in adding to the work programme. Deepa Patel provided the following update: 

        A review of the tri-borough arrangements led by Hammersmith & Fulham on adoption and fostering; Judith Petersen had fed back that she was not aware of any best practice in particular that the tri-borough arrangements had led to. Given that this was the case the scrutiny officer advised that the Panel would need to decide if this was a priority area.

        Review access to mainstream education for children with disabilities: Judith had advised that this was a very broad area and it would be helpful to the Panel’s work to determine which area they wanted to focus on.

Following discussion, the Panel identified the following topics as potential areas to include in their 2012/13 work programme:

-          Review access to mainstream education for children with disabilities

-          An update on CAHMS services. (In relation to this item Stephen Hutchison identified that there was some work already on going with Feltham Young Offenders which could link into this).

-          An update on the Department restructure and budget savings.

-          Anti social behaviour

-          Blind schools facing imminent closure and the health, social and educational needs of these children.

The Panel determined that the review into mainstream education and an update on CAMHS were priorities.

The panel acknowledged that in taking work forward, it would be helpful to link reviews with any work that was already being taken forward by young people on chosen topics. The Panel agreed it would be useful to have a progress report from the Youth Council on what these topics were.

Stephen Hutchinson referred to Mary Harpley's presentation at the Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel on 22nd May (in relation to proposed structural changes to bring together Children and Adult's services).  Kulvinder Lal (Youth Council Member and co-optee to the Panel) and members of the Youth Council had shared Mary's presentation with the Children in Care Council.

The Children in Care Council had come up with a number of questions in relation to the proposal and Cllr Davies suggested that rather than have the responses reported back to the Children & Young People Scrutiny Panel, the Corporate Parenting Panel would be a more appropriate forum in which Mary could give feedback on the questions that have been raised. Could this be followed up?

Action:  Deepa Patel

Any business which the Chair agrees to accept on grounds of urgency.

There was no urgent business.

The next meeting would be on Thursday 18^th October 2012 at 7.00pm.