Children & Young People's Plan Vision Workshop
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Report to: Cabinet Member - Children, Date of Issue: 23 May 2017 Schools and Safeguarding Date of Decision: 1 June 2017 Subject: Home to School Transport Policy Statement for Learners aged 16-19 and students aged 16-25 with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities for 2017-18 Academic Year Report of: Head of Schools and Families Wards Affected: All Wards Is this a Key Decision? No Is it included in the Forward Plan? No Exempt/Confidential: No Purpose/Summary To ask the Cabinet Member to agree the Home To School Transport Policy Statement for Learners aged 16-19 and students aged 16-25 with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities for 2017-18 Academic Year. Recommendation The Cabinet Member is asked to agree the Home To School Transport Policy Statement for Learners aged 16-19 and students aged 16-25 with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities for 2017-18 Academic Year. How does the decision contribute to the Council’s Corporate Objectives? Corporate Objective Positive Neutral Negative Impact Impact Impact 1 Creating a Learning Community 2 Jobs and Prosperity 3 Environmental Sustainability 4 Health and Well-Being 5 Children and Young People 6 Creating Safe Communities 7 Creating Inclusive Communities 8 Improving the Quality of Council Services and Strengthening Local Democracy Page 1 of 14 Reasons for the Recommendation: To agree the Home to School Transport Policy Statement for Learners aged 16-19 and students aged 16-25 with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities for 2017-18 Academic Year. The statement must be published by 31st May annually. What will it cost and how will it be financed? (A) Revenue Costs There are no new financial implications arising out of this report. The cost of the service will be met from within the existing revenue budget for the service. Likewise any demand pressures will also have to be contained within this budget. (B) Capital Costs N/A Implications: The following implications of this proposal have been considered and where there are specific implications, these are set out below: Legal N/A Human Resources N/A Equality 1. No Equality Implication √ 2. Equality Implications identified and mitigated 3. Equality Implication identified and risk remains Impact on Service Delivery: N/A What consultations have taken place on the proposals and when? The Head of Corporate Resources has been consulted and comments have been incorporated into the report (FD 4648/17). Head of Corporate Legal Services have been consulted and has no comments on the report (LD 3933/17). Page 2 of 14 Are there any other options available for consideration? It is a statutory requirement to publish a Post 16 Transport Policy Statement and any significant changes would require further consultation. There are no changes to the 2016-17 policy. Implementation Date for the Decision Following the expiry of the “call-in” period for the Cabinet Member decision. Contact Officer: Jane Clark Tel: 0151 934 3487 Email: [email protected] Background Papers: There are no background papers available for inspection. Page 3 of 14 Home to School Transport Policy Statement for Learners aged 16-19 and students aged 16-25 with Learning Difficulties and Disabilities for 2017-18 Academic Year 1. Introduction/Background 1.1 Every Local Authority in England has a duty to prepare and publish an annual Transport Policy Statement which complies with the requirements of section 509 of the Education Act 1996 regarding adequate provision of transport to facilitate the attendance of learners of sixth form age (and young person’s up to 25 years old who have a learning difficulty and/or a disability, who are entering or continuing in further education and learning). 1.2 The duty applies to all local authorities in England in respect of arrangements for young people (over compulsory school age) aged 16-18 and those continuing learners who started their programme of learning before their 19th birthday. 1.3 Eligibility for Post-16 transport and travel assistance arrangements for learners of sixth form age is not prescribed by statute and a local authority must decide what discretionary transport and travel arrangements it considers necessary as a response to local needs. In doing so, however, a local authority must have regard to statutory guidance from the Department for Education: ‘Post-16 transport to education and training - statutory guidance for local authorities (February 2014). 1.4 This Post-16 Transport Policy document specifies the discretionary transport and travel support arrangements that Sefton Council (‘the Authority’) considers necessary to facilitate the attendance of Learners of sixth form age; and for Post-16 Learners who are the subject of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). 1.5 There are no changes to eligibility and the policy has been updated to reflect any changes to ticket information etc. A copy of the updated policy is attached to this report. Page 4 of 14 Sefton Council Transport Policy Statement For Learners aged 16-19 and 16-25 for students with Learning Difficulties or Disabilities (Academic Year 2017/18) CONTENTS 1. Policy Statement and Main Objectives 2. Details of Support Available a) Local Support available b) National Support available 3. Support for Learners with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities 4. Independent Travel Training 5. Support for Post 16 Students Undertaking Apprenticeships and Traineeships 6. Contact Information 7. Complaints and Appeals 8. Consultation and Review Annex A: Contact details for FE Colleges and Schools with 6th Forms Page 5 of 14 1. Policy Statement and Main Objectives Eligibility for Post-16 transport and travel assistance arrangements for learners of sixth form age is not prescribed by statute and a local authority must decide what discretionary transport and travel arrangements it considers necessary as a response to local needs. In doing so, however, a local authority must have regard to statutory guidance from the Department for Education: ‘Post-16 transport to education and training - statutory guidance for local authorities (February 2014) The Raising of the Participation Age under the Education and Skills Act 2008, requiring young people to participate in education or training up to their 18th birthday has not created any new entitlement to transport beyond age 16. This Post-16 Transport Policy document specifies the discretionary transport and travel support arrangements that Sefton Council (‘the Authority’) considers necessary to facilitate the attendance of Learners of sixth form age; and for Post-16 Learners who are the subject of an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). Sefton Council (‘the Authority’) has the following aims and objectives regarding its Post-16 Transport Policy: to ensure, wherever reasonably possible and having regard to the cost of transport, that learners of sixth form age are able to access the education and training of their choice; and to assess and provide transport / travel assistance which is appropriate to meeting eligibility and/or needs, having regard to the cost of transport and any alternative means of facilitating attendance; and Where travel support is deemed necessary, priority will be given to solutions that will help maximise the development of the young person’s independence, for example through independent travel training. Definition of terms for the purpose of this policy document: The ‘Authority’ refers to Sefton Council; ‘Post-16’ refers to young people (over compulsory school age) aged 16-18 who are attending further education or training and where they have an EHCP, those aged over 19 and up to age 25. ‘Learner’ refers to a person attending education or training - and in the context of this policy refers specifically to a Post-16 learner attending further education or training at a school, college or training provider. 'Full time course' The Department for Education ‘Participation of Young People Statutory Guidance; Annex 1, Defining Participation (March 2013)’ defines full time education/participation as a minimum of 540 hours of guided learning per academic year. The Authority considers this total number of hours to be met by a course with at least 15 taught hours per week, scheduled to be delivered over 36 or more weeks per Page 6 of 14 year - and all courses for which Post-16 transport or travel assistance is given must meet this requirement. Learners with Special Educational Needs and/or Disabilities (SEND) or Learning Difficulties and/or Disabilities’ (LDD) - for the purposes of this policy learners with SEND or LDD includes all young people aged 16 – 18 with special Educational Needs and those aged over 19 and under 25 who have an EHCP. NEET- Students who are Not in Education Employment or Training or those who are vulnerable to becoming NEET 2. Details of Support and Transport Providers locally A list of all contact details for Sefton 6th forms and Colleges can be found in Annex A. Sefton Local Authority Sefton Council does not generally provide transport or support with transport for Post 16 students as it is expected that Post 16 students who need it will receive support through their college, employer, training provider or bursary funding. Hugh Baird College The college offers term time travel passes to 16-18 year old students who have a household income of less than £35,000 and live more than 1.5 miles (shortest walking distance) away from the college. The majority of the passes issued through the Financial Assistance Package are Merseytravel Solo tickets covering Area C. However, there are a range of passes which the college will consider should your address be outside of Area C which will permit travel across a variety of modes including buses and trains. Further details can be found at http://www.hughbaird.ac.uk/index.php/financial-assistance-explained King George V College Local students can purchase through the college an Arriva North West Scholars Saver ticket, valid for anyone in full time education up to the age of 18 and travelling throughout Merseyside, Greater Manchester, Cheshire, Lancashire & Halton.