Issue - meetings

The Chairman referred to the Committee’s previous request for information following the recommendations of the Communications and Media IMG, as set out on page 12 of the agenda, Mrs Taylor agreed to chase the items up.

Mr Hart referred to the Mosaic report which the Committee requested sight of at their last meeting.  The report stated that Freedom Pass holders from more affluent areas were dominant compared to young people in less affluent areas, this was an issue that the Committee wanted to address.  The Chairman reported to the Committee feedback from the Cabinet meeting on 20 April - comments regarding Kent Freedom Pass were noted but for clarity Cabinet wished to record that fact that whilst it fully supported the review of the existing scheme it could not give any form of commitment to it being extended to cover the 16 – 18 year old group, because of the significant effect that would have in terms of the budget.  A possible source of some funding could be through the colleges of further education and that possibility should be investigated.  Mr Truelove suggested that the Committee should continue to sustain the argument that the scheme should be extended to the 16 – 18 year old year groups and to children who travel outside of Kent.  Mrs Dean referred to a previous request for proposals from the Cabinet Member about how the County Council might address the promotion of the Kent Freedom Pass scheme and asked that this be followed up.  Mr Simmonds suggested that these points be taken up by the review in September.  Mrs Dean had concerns over the timing, new passes were due to be issued in June and Mr Sass confirmed that the IMG that the Committee had previously agreed to set up could take up the point of publicising the Freedom Pass.  The Chairman suggested that a note be sent to the Cabinet Member and the relevant Officers pointing out the issues around the timing of the IMG and the distribution of Freedom Passes in June and also to asking them to give some preliminary consideration to improvements in the publicity of the Freedom Pass.  Mrs Law suggested that the Youth Advisory Group should be involved in any review of the Freedom Pass.

Members noted the information contained within the report.