City of York Council

Annex 1 Equalities Impact Assessment

Who is submitting the proposal?

Directorate:		People
Service Area:		Education Support Services
Name of the proposal :		Extension of Home to School Transport Contracts – York Pullman
Lead officer:		Maxine Squire, Assistant Director, Education and Skills
Date assessment completed:		16/2/2022
Names of those who contributed to the assessment :
Name	Job title		Organisation	Area of expertise
Helen Garnham	Children and Young People Transport Manager		CYC	Education support services
Barbara Mands	Head of Education Support Service		CYC	Education support services

Step 1 – Aims and intended outcomes 

1.1	What is the purpose of the proposal? Please explain your proposal in Plain English avoiding acronyms and jargon.
	To extend the current Home to School bus contracts for the delivery of statutory home to school transport between City of York Council and York Pullman Bus Company for a further 2 years at a cost of £998,000 per year.

1.2	Are there any external considerations? (Legislation/government directive/codes of practice etc.)
	The council is required to provide home to school transport for primary age children who live over 2 miles from their nearest school and for secondary age children who live over 3 miles away from their nearest school. This is to meet the duty in the 1996 Education Act.  The act requires local authorities to provide transport to eligible children free of charge to support attendance at school.

1.3

Who are the stakeholders and what are their interests?

The key stake holders are: · The Council to carry out their statutory duty to deliver free home to school transport for all their entitled children and young people. · North Yorkshire County Council regarding any proposed changes to the Tadcaster bus route. · Schools to facilitate attendance at school for eligible children. · The Parents to be assured their children are being transported to school in safe and sustainable vehicles. · The children and young people who are being transported to enable them to arrive at their school in the most efficient way.

1.4

What results/outcomes do we want to achieve and for whom?  This section should explain what outcomes you want to achieve for service users, staff and/or the wider community. Demonstrate how the proposal links to the Council Plan (2019- 2023) and other corporate strategies and plans.

This will allow us to concentrate on the procurement of the home to school taxi contracts. The taxi contracts support some aspects of discretionary home to school transport and also for children and young people with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  The extension of the school bus contracts will allow for a full consultation proposed revisions to the home to school transport policy around existing bus routes e.g. review of the Tadcaster bus route.

Step 2 – Gathering the information and feedback 

2.1	What sources of data, evidence and consultation feedback do we have to help us understand the impact of the proposal on equality rights and human rights? Please consider a range of sources, including: consultation exercises, surveys, feedback from staff, stakeholders, participants, research reports, the views of equality groups, as well your own experience of working in this area etc.
Source of data/supporting evidence		Reason for using The proposal to extend the current bus contracts with Pullman has considered benchmarking data for spend on bus contracts by other LAs and this provided information about the cost effectiveness of the current contracts.

Step 3 – Gaps in data and knowledge

3.1	What are the main gaps in information and understanding of the impact of your proposal?  Please indicate how any gaps will be dealt with.
Gaps in data or knowledge		Action to deal with this
Costs/benefits of removing the Tadcaster Bus		A feasibility study and consultation following the feasibility study

Step 4 – Analysing the impacts or effects.

4.1	Please consider what the evidence tells you about the likely impact (positive or negative) on people sharing a protected characteristic, i.e. how significant could the impacts be if we did not make any adjustments? Remember the duty is also positive – so please identify where the proposal offers opportunities to promote equality and/or foster good relations.
Equality Groups and Human Rights.		Key Findings/Impacts	Positive (+) Negative (-) Neutral (0)	Medium (M) Low (L)
Age		The provision of the home to school bus contracts ensures that eligible children are able to attend school	+	Low
Disability		The home to school bus contracts use compliant vehicles	+	Low
Gender
Gender Reassignment
Marriage and civil partnership
Pregnancy and maternity
Race
Religion and belief
Sexual orientation
Other Socio-economic groups including :		Could other socio-economic groups be affected e.g. carers, ex-offenders, low incomes?
Carer
Low income groups		Eligible children are provided with free home to school transport	+	Low
Veterans, Armed Forces Community
Other
Impact on human rights:
List any human rights impacted.		The right to education	+

Use the following guidance to inform your responses:

Indicate:

- Where you think that the proposal could have a POSITIVE impact on any of the equality groups like promoting equality and equal opportunities or improving relations within equality groups

- Where you think that the proposal could have a NEGATIVE impact on any of the equality groups, i.e. it could disadvantage them

- Where you think that this proposal has a NEUTRAL effect on any of the equality groups listed below i.e. it has no effect currently on equality groups.

It is important to remember that a proposal may be highly relevant to one aspect of equality and not relevant to another.

High impact (The proposal or process is very equality relevant)	There is significant potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or public facing The proposal has consequences for or affects significant numbers of people The proposal has the potential to make a significant contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights.
Medium impact (The proposal or process is somewhat equality relevant)	There is some evidence to suggest potential for or evidence of adverse impact The proposal is institution wide or across services, but mainly internal The proposal has consequences for or affects some people The proposal has the potential to make a contribution to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights
Low impact (The proposal or process might be equality relevant)	There is little evidence to suggest that the proposal could result in adverse impact The proposal operates in a limited way The proposal has consequences for or affects few people The proposal may have the potential to contribute to promoting equality and the exercise of human rights

Step 5 - Mitigating adverse impacts and maximising positive impacts

5.1	Based on your findings, explain ways you plan to mitigate any unlawful prohibited conduct or unwanted adverse impact. Where positive impacts have been identified, what is been done to optimise opportunities to advance equality or foster good relations?
The proposal will ensure that the home to school transport service continues to be provided at an efficient and effective cost. This means that eligible children are able to attend school. Schools have confidence in the current providers.

Step 6 – Recommendations and conclusions of the assessment

6.1	Having considered the potential or actual impacts you should be in a position to make an informed judgement on what should be done. In all cases, document your reasoning that justifies your decision. There are four main options you can take:
- Adjust the proposal – the EIA identifies potential problems or missed opportunities. This involves taking steps to remove any barriers, to better advance quality or to foster good relations. - Continue with the proposal (despite the potential for adverse impact) – you should clearly set out the justifications for doing this and how you believe the decision is compatible with our obligations under the duty - Stop and remove the proposal – if there are adverse effects that are not justified and cannot be mitigated, you should consider stopping the proposal altogether. If a proposal leads to unlawful discrimination it should be removed or changed. Important: If there are any adverse impacts you cannot mitigate, please provide a compelling reason in the justification column.
Option selected		Conclusions/justification
Continue with the proposal		The impact has been reviewed and the proposal to extend the contracts ensures continuity of service to avoid the adverse impact of a disruption to a statutory service.

Step 7 – Summary of agreed actions resulting from the assessment

7.1	What action, by whom, will be undertaken as a result of the impact assessment.
Impact/issue		Action to be taken	Person responsible	Timescale
N/a

Step 8 - Monitor, review and improve

8. 1	How will the impact of your proposal be monitored and improved upon going forward?   Consider how will you identify the impact of activities on protected characteristics and other marginalised groups going forward? How will any learning and enhancements be capitalised on and embedded?