Agenda item

Education Scrutiny Committee - Final Report on Home to School Transport Contracts in York

This report presents the final report of the Education Scrutiny Committee regarding home to school transport contracts for primary schools in York.

Decision:

RESOLVED:That the Scrutiny Committee be thanked for their work and their recommendations be dealt with as outlined in the table below:

No.	Recommendation in Full	Executive Response
1	Council officers to be instructed to negotiate with the transport provider for St Mary’s School, Askham Richard in order for seat belts to be provided on all vehicles. If this is not possible at a reasonable cost then they will re-let the contract from September 2007.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposals arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts
2	The Council will ensure that minimum standards for all future home to school transport buses include: a) Lap seatbelts to be fitted to all vehicles, with the long term aim of these being 3 point seatbelts. b) CCTV to be installed in all vehicles and functioning at all times c)Contractors to ensure that all drivers have had a CRB check within the last three years before commencing this work and thereafter in line with current Council policy. EU2 emission standards or greater to be required on all contract vehicles	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposal arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts. The Executive accepts that is may be necessary to phase in these new contract requirements over a period of time to allow for any necessary conversions to be undertaken and for funding sources to be found.
3	The council will ensure that where possible contracts are to be let for more than 5 years, ideally 8 - 10 years in order to allow contractors to invest in higher quality vehicles	The Executive notes the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and asks officers to report back on the advantages and any possible disadvantages of letting longer transport contracts
4	The council will recognise good practice in other local authorities and encourage schools and contractors to use measures such as good behaviour contracts (see paragraph 32), designated seats and the use of bus prefects to discourage unruly behaviour by pupils.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation
5	The Council will endeavour to ensure that the same high standards are in place for bus contracts covering all educational establishments.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposals arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts

REASON: To improve safety and introduce higher quality buses.

Minutes:

Members received a report which presented the final report of the Education Scrutiny Committee regarding home to school transport contracts for primary schools in York. The final report, which contained 5 recommendations and was attached as Annex A, had been endorsed by the Scrutiny Management Committee (SMC) at its meeting on 26 March 2007, for referral to the Executive. SMC had also acknowledged that the Executive may consider whether to apply the recommendations contained in the report to secondary schools as well as primary schools in line with any future legislative requirements arising from the Education & Inspection Bill.

Cllr Charles Hall, the Chair of Education Scrutiny Committee, attended the meeting to present the report and respond to speakers’ comments (minute 207 refers).

Members expressed concern that the issue of safety on school buses had not led central government to stipulate minimum standards for school bus design or to ensure that the costs of providing safe transport were recognised in the grant entitlement of local authorities. They expressed the view that, in the absence of such standards and adequate funding, the Council would be placed in the undesirable position of having to reduce service standards elsewhere in the education service in order to pay for seat belts and other improvements.

It was noted that the Council had already instructed officers to undertake a comprehensive review of its transport procurement policies and this was now being undertaken by consultants. It was anticipated that economies would be found and that these may offer a possible option for meeting part of the costs of improving school bus services.

RESOLVED:That the Scrutiny Committee be thanked for their work and their recommendations be dealt with as outlined in the table below:

No.	Recommendation in Full	Executive Response
1	Council officers to be instructed to negotiate with the transport provider for St Mary’s School, Askham Richard in order for seat belts to be provided on all vehicles. If this is not possible at a reasonable cost then they will re-let the contract from September 2007.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposals arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts
2	The Council will ensure that minimum standards for all future home to school transport buses include: a) Lap seatbelts to be fitted to all vehicles, with the long term aim of these being 3 point seatbelts. b) CCTV to be installed in all vehicles and functioning at all times c)Contractors to ensure that all drivers have had a CRB check within the last three years before commencing this work and thereafter in line with current Council policy. EU2 emission standards or greater to be required on all contract vehicles	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposal arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts. The Executive accepts that is may be necessary to phase in these new contract requirements over a period of time to allow for any necessary conversions to be undertaken and for funding sources to be found.
3	The council will ensure that where possible contracts are to be let for more than 5 years, ideally 8 - 10 years in order to allow contractors to invest in higher quality vehicles	The Executive notes the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and asks officers to report back on the advantages and any possible disadvantages of letting longer transport contracts
4	The council will recognise good practice in other local authorities and encourage schools and contractors to use measures such as good behaviour contracts (see paragraph 32), designated seats and the use of bus prefects to discourage unruly behaviour by pupils.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation
5	The Council will endeavour to ensure that the same high standards are in place for bus contracts covering all educational establishments.	The Executive endorses the Scrutiny Committee recommendation and instructs officers to address this issue as part of any proposals arising out of the current Kendric Ash review of the Councils transport contracts

REASON: To improve safety and introduce higher quality buses.

Supporting documents: