Minutes:
Mr R Love OBE (Cabinet Member for Education and Skills) and Ms C McInnes (Director of Education) were in attendance for this item.
1. Mr Love provided a verbal update which broke down mainstream home to school transport costs, contracts and occupancy, as at the time of the meeting, following a request by a Member. He confirmed that there were 275 hired mainstream contracts, which included both private and public hire, comprising 222 (65%) of service volume and 80% of contract costs for private hire, as well as 53 (35%) of volume and 20% of contract costs for public hire respectively. He added that 82 contracts were for sole occupancy transport at a total cost of £1.4m, which compared to £3.3m for the 193 multiple occupancy contracts. Ms McInnes provided further statistics, confirming that the average cost per head per day across all contracts was £21.48, which was further separated into £18.10 for multiple occupancy and £93.37 for single occupancy. She noted that the average costs per head per day, varied significantly based on the route and distance.
2. Mr Love agreed to provide Members with a written briefing following the meeting, to support the statistics shared with the Committee.
3. District taxi and private hire vehicle licensing was raised by a Member, as an area for further investigation, in order to understand whether policies overly restricted market supply.
4. A Member commented that alterative employment models for drivers should be investigated.
5. A Member noted that home to school transport had been a long-term issue, for more than a decade, with costs significantly increasing over the period. They added that schools should be engaged in order to explore other options and carry out pilots, including school-run licensed taxi services.
6. Members asked that the issue be scrutinised further and that the written briefing promised include an overview of the legislation which required KCC to provision home to school transport and a comparison with similar authorities.
7. Concerning decision making, Ms McInnes noted that there was significant interplay between the statutory obligations to offer school places and transport which heavily influenced expenditure on home to school transport.
8. Mr Love thanked the Committee for its questions and comments. He reassured Members that KCC had some of lowest home to school transport costs per child, when compared to many neighbouring authorities. He welcomed Members’ suggestions of pilots and committed to investigate the impact of taxi licensing policy on market supply. He concluded by reminding Members that there was no single solution to resolve the issues identified and that a multi-pronged approach was required.
9. The Chairman thanked Mr Love for his engagement with the Committee, the answers provided and commitment to provide further information to Members.
RESOLVED to note the verbal update from the Cabinet Member.
POST MEETING NOTE: The Cabinet Member provided the Committee with a written briefing on Home to School Transport, which included: decision making and the statutory framework; benchmarking and cost drivers; managing costs and value for money; the numbers of contracts and pupils being transported; and further efficiencies.