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Home Brighton

Council says sorry for school transport chaos and vows to fix it in four weeks

by Frank le Duc
Friday 13 Sep, 2019 at 8:18AM
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Council says sorry for school transport chaos and vows to fix it in four weeks

Children wait to be unloaded outside Downs View after changes to their home to school transport arrangements

Brighton and Hove City Council has said sorry for the “distressing” school transport chaos and has promised to fix the problems within four weeks.

The council said: “We are committed to investigating – urgently and forensically – what has happened and how it has happened.

“We will do this in partnership with the city’s Parent Carers Council and other interested parties.

“We want to improve the situation for families who been affected as soon as possible.

“We will ensure that people who have been affected have their voices heard.”

In a briefing to councillors about the switch from just a few local firms to a “dynamic purchasing system”, involving multiple private companies, the council said: “We had been working for many months on new home to school transport arrangements starting in September 2019.

“By early August all school routes had been successfully awarded.

“However, a number of our contractors then withdrew at the last minute – very late August and even early September – from services they had agreed, in writing, to deliver as of the start of term on (Thursday) 5 September.

“It is to be expected that a small number of issues with contractors crop up at the beginning of an academic year.

“However, the scale of the contractor issues we are facing this year is unprecedented.

“We have also formalised arrangements at the point of delivery of the child to the school to clarify the responsibilities of both the schools and the transport providers.

“There had previously been slightly different arrangements at different schools and this had sometimes caused confusion.

“Schools were notified of the changes to arrangements in April.

“However, in some cases it has meant schools have had to take on ‘point of delivery’ duties that they had not previously covered.”

Despite recent extra government funding for “high needs” children, there was no suggestion in the council briefing that any of this money had been passed on to special schools to pay for the new “point of delivery” duties that they have been expected to take on.

The council said: “We understand that at school level the expectations around their duties at the point of delivery of the child has caused some operational issues.

“Children and young people who need home to school transport are among our most vulnerable residents.

“We provide home to school transport for 480 children and young people who attend schools and colleges. Of these, 30 have faced some disruption to their arrangements this term.”

Parents and others involved in two special schools said that the switch from dedicated local firms to a fragmented and unco-ordinated range of contractors has had considerable knock-on effects for almost all of their children.

Taxi escorts previously escorted children into school. Now school staff at Downs View and Hill Park special schools are escorting children into school. The process is taking much longer and children are losing hours of teaching time every week.

One member of staff said privately: “Imagine if this was happening at Varndean. It wouldn’t!

“There would be an outcry if students there lost valuable hours of learning time every week to bring pupils into school and into their classrooms.

“But apparently it’s ok here. This is an ‘equalities’ issue. Our children are being treated differently because they have extra needs.”

The council has also been criticised for a lack of communication about the changes. It said: “We acknowledge that the lack of certainty we have been able to offer a number of families about these arrangements has caused them distress.

“The last-minute nature of the transport arrangements we have arranged for them has also led to difficulties in terms of communicating with these families.

“We have apologised unreservedly for the difficulties they are facing.

“The council is confident that permanent arrangements will be in place within a maximum of four weeks.

“In the meantime, where new permanent arrangements are not yet in place, temporary transport support arrangements have been arranged.

“We’re working flat out to turn the situation around.

“Our children and young people have been able to get to school, but there has been disruption.

“A small number of children have not been collected on time or arrived at their destination at the required time.

“On a few occasions children were not collected by the operator in line with their instructions.

“The start of term can be a period of adjustment for all pupils but especially pupils with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities).

Hill Park School

“There have been incidents that have occurred on route and delays in loading/unloading pupils has led to pupils becoming distressed.

“Some parents are refusing to accept the transport offered, believing it to be unsuitable for their child’s needs. Efforts are ongoing to reach acceptable resolutions.

“On a small number of occasions the first choice vehicle supplied by the operator has not been the right size to accommodate the pupil’s wheelchair.

“The last-minute changes that have had to be made has meant that the usual practice of vehicle crews introducing themselves to families has not been possible.

“Not all of these situations have occurred because of the council’s arrangements. Some information has not been received in a timely fashion. On occasion visits by the operators have not happened.

“Where short-term arrangements have been put in place information about students has not reached operators quickly enough.

“Council leader Nancy Platts and the deputy chair of our Children, Young People and Skills Committee, Councillor Kate Knight, are writing to all parents who have been affected to reassure them of our commitment to resolving all the current issues around home to school transport as quickly as possible.”

Councillor Nancy Platts

The council introduced the new arrangements to try to save money because – as a National Audit Office report found this week – the growing number of pupils with special needs has made provision more expensive.

A council “procurement board” was told that there were too few firms in Brighton and Hove willing to take on the work for there to be an effective market.

In part this is down to “consolidation” in response to the arrival locally of the American online taxi hailing business Uber.

So the board backed a switch from a single contractor to the new “dynamic purchasing system” to generate competition and bring down the price.

One councillor privately described this as the “Uber-isation” of home to school transport, using “disruption” of the market to drive down costs.

When the proposal went before a committee of senior councillors last autumn, they opted for a system operated by a traditional contractor, along the lines of the existing arrangements.

Councillor Kate Knight

A report to the council’s Policy, Resources and Growth Committee explored the case for a “dynamic purchasing system” and said: “It requires additional administration from council staff which is not currently factored in to roles and responsibilities and initial soft market testing did not produce significant savings.”

But in the spring – as the council entered a period known as purdah before the elections – a senior council officer overrode this decision in favour of a “dynamic purchasing system”.

This involved bringing in consultants, Edge Public Solutions, who claim to be able to save councils money on home to school transport.

The previous home to school contract arrangements were estimated to be worth £2.45 million a year and were reported last October to be running £89,000 over budget.

The service ended the financial year in March overspent by £210,000 and an overspend of £346,000 was forecast for 2019-20.

The new arrangements were expected to be worth £3 million a year although consultants from Edge are understood to be earning a six-figure sum to try to find savings.

Council budget papers in February said: “Significant savings have been achieved in previous years in transport and overall cost compares well with other councils.

“A further small saving of £39,000 is planned for 2019-20 from an overall gross budget of £2.5 million to be achieved across the full range of work undertaken within the School Organisation Team.

“No negative impacts are anticipated as a result of the proposed savings.”

Last night two councillors said that they had been given the figures by the council but had been gagged despite the public interest in understanding the continuing fiasco.

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Comments 8

  1. Chaz Wyman says:
    6 years ago

    One vehicle : many seats??
    Just a thought.
    http://images.clipartpanda.com/bus-clipart-School-buses-clipart.jpg

    Reply
    • Kieran says:
      6 years ago

      The whole point is that the bigger the bus the more pick up the more time the kids are onboard.

      Reply
  2. Donna Rattray says:
    6 years ago

    My son spent over three hours in a minibus yesterday on top of a full school day. The more kids they pack in the longer the journey takes. On another day there was no transport for him so he was picked up late and missed his first lesson. We still don’t know about transport for next week although things are looking a bit more organised. The ‘senior council official’ responsible for making the decision to open up the market needs to stop hiding and face parents.

    Reply
  3. Rob Arbery says:
    6 years ago

    A six figure sum for Edge Solutions for producing an absolute disaster. The LA need to take ownership and help the schools and not blame the. City wide disgrace

    Reply
  4. Rhianydd says:
    6 years ago

    The whole issue with home school transport has been a complete balls up.
    Still no firm commitment as to what is happening with home school transport for next week.
    Transport for today was arranged and rearranged 3 times in 30 minutes last night between 7.45 and 8.15.
    The effect it is having on my son is awful as he does not cope with change,so because of the issues with transport now has bite marks on his arm as his behaviour has spiralled due to the uncertainty

    I am waiting for the age old phase of lessons will be learnt,which they won’t learn from as they never do.

    Reply
  5. Mav says:
    6 years ago

    Of course someone on the council pocketed a tidy sum from this fiasco? Then the companies they sold contract to go bust, keeping council money… I hope not

    Reply
  6. fed-up with Brighton politics says:
    6 years ago

    I don’t have children, but can understand how very important this issue is and how distressing it is for the children themselves, their parents and carers. In other words, it doesn’t take a genius to see the way this rubbish ‘initiative’ would turn out. We had the same sort of thing with patient ambulance transport, which wasn’t B&H Council for a change, but some Clinical Commissioning Group, and that swiftly turned to total chaos, the reason being that they all put the requirement to save money first and the welfare/interests of the victims a long way back. Additionally, none of them live in the real world and have no idea of the effects that their decisions have on vulnerable or infirm people.
    Most ‘initiatives’of B&H Council end up in chaos and it is hard to resist the conclusion that the ‘Executive’ is totally inompetent, which is not surprising under the very limp leadership of Geoff Raw. He was the man who presided over the bin strike fiasco a few years back, and yet he was appointed Chief Exec some time later (cheap option??). He seems to have botched the recent threat of a bin strike, with union people saying they thought an agreement had been reached, only for the ‘Executive’ to back-pedal when they got back to base-camp. Cllr Platts stepped in to sort it (not that I have any time for her, but at least she averted the strike) and Valley Gardens Phase 3 is a huge bone of contention. Conservative councillors, Mary Mears and Lee Wares, were apparently gagged when they spoke out about the children’s transport.

    Councillors say that their job is to lay down policy and it is up to the ‘Executive’ to carry it out. However,it currently looks like the Executive’ are setting policy and making a major cock-up of it. Perhaps the Council might like to consider getting rid of the limp Raw and hiring a proper Chief Exec!

    Reply
  7. Jean Smith says:
    6 years ago

    Nancy Platitudes! Please just give these children the education they are legally entitled to. If I made my child late for school each day or kept them away, I’d be in trouble, possibly fined and maybe in court. Somehow, Councillors Platts and Knight seem to be saying this could go on for 4 more weeks. Where’s Pinki Ghoshal, the head of education, in all this? Are we going to see any real leadership from anyone at the council or are they just hoping parents, children and families will start flagging and just end up accepting a flawed system?!?

    Reply

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