Issue - meetings

1. That the commencement of a 12-week formal consultation on the draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy, as attached at Appendix 2 to the report, from 2 September 2019 to 29 November 2019 be approved.

2. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, in consultation with the Director of Education and the Delivering Independent Travel – Councillor Reference Group, to approve supplementary accessible documents and summary of proposals to be made available during formal consultation aimed at individuals receiving travel assistance and their families.

3. That proposals 1 – 9, which outline the significant changes to current policy practice and are already incorporated in the draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy, attached at Appendix 2 to the report be noted.

4. That it be noted that supplementary accessible documents will be available during formal consultation aimed at individuals receiving travel assistance and their families along with a summary of proposals.

5. That it be noted that the results of the consultation commencing on 2 September 2019 and engagement with the City of Wolverhampton residents and transport stakeholders would be reported to and inform a subsequent decision by Cabinet in February 2020.

6. That it be noted that a summary of this document is available within the All Age Travel Assistance Policy Presentation, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

Councillor Dr Michael Hardacre presented the Draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy for approval to commence a 12-week formal consultation on the Policy. The report detailed proposals to improve the Council’s

travel assistance offer, to better support the needs of residents and to promote the development of increased independence where appropriate.

The development of a full range of travel assistance options, including Personal Transport Budgets and bespoke solutions for families would provide increased choice and personalisation. The new All Age Travel Assistance Policy would be more transparent, and person-centred.

Resolved:

The Cabinet is recommended to:

1. That the commencement of a 12-week formal consultation on the draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy, as attached at Appendix 2 to the report, from 2 September 2019 to 29 November 2019 be approved.

2. That authority be delegated to the Cabinet Member for Education and Skills, in consultation with the Director of Education and the Delivering Independent Travel – Councillor Reference Group, to approve supplementary accessible documents and summary of proposals to be made available during formal consultation aimed at individuals receiving travel assistance and their families.

3. That proposals 1 – 9, which outline the significant changes to current policy practice and are already incorporated in the draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy, attached at Appendix 2 to the report be noted.

4. That it be noted that supplementary accessible documents will be available during formal consultation aimed at individuals receiving travel assistance and their families along with a summary of proposals.

5. That it be noted that the results of the consultation commencing on 2 September 2019 and engagement with the City of Wolverhampton residents and transport stakeholders would be reported to and inform a subsequent decision by Cabinet in February 2020.

6. That it be noted that a summary of this document is available within the All Age Travel Assistance Policy Presentation, attached at Appendix 1 to the report.

[Adrian Leach, Head of SEND, to present report]

The Board considered a report going to Cabinet to approve the commencement of a 12-week formal consultation on the draft All Age Travel Assistance Policy from 2 September 2019 to 29 November 2019.

The Chair welcome Cllr Dr Hardacre, Portfolio Holder for Education and Skills and Cllr Reynolds, Portfolio Holder for Children and Young people to the meeting.

The report provided details of proposals to improve the Council’s travel assistance offer to better support the needs of people of the City and to promote the development of increased independence where appropriate.

The report contained a set of consultation principals that the Council could move forward on which would shape the policy and recommend how the Council could move forward.

The function of schools and the education system was to help develop independent young people who were able to go out and about in the world. The aim was to create independence for young people within a proper structured programme. Anything that happened had to be underpinned by safeguarding and the safety of the young people concerned with each instance being dealt with on a case by case basis following in depth discussions with schools and any other relevant organisations.

The Board considered the presentation provided by the Director for Education.

It was confirmed that any approach would be based around independence and personalisation, it would not be a blanket policy approach. The assessment that would take place would consider what was right for that child and family.

The Director for Education explained that demand was increasing, that the children had more complex needs and that it was vital to ensure that they could get to school in an appropriate manner.

There were multiple policies at the moment and fantastic work had already taken place in adult services around the same issue. The Council needed a seamless policy and the proposals allowed the process to run through and promote independence.

The Board considered all the proposals in detail as contained in the report.

The Board questioned whether there would be a medical assessment and who would decide if they met the criteria as most of the applicants would have a disability, mental health or safeguarding concern. 

The Board considered the proposed £3.9 million budget and queried how many young people this would be for; how big was the £3.9 million against the number of pupils under consideration.

The question was also raised as to how exceptional circumstances would be approached.

It was stated that any decision-making process would be a multi-agency discussion, the aim of the consultation was to go out and talk to people as to what shape the policy would take.

Regarding the exceptional circumstances description, it was too early at this stage to decide on exceptional circumstances and these needed to be done in consultation on a case by case basis. 

Regarding the financing of the policy, the Council would need to be sensible about this and it would take a period of time for any projected  ...  view the full minutes text for item 7