Contents:
Item Page Number
Background and context 3
Reflections, findings and recommendations - Governance 7 - Stakeholder feedback 9 - Procurement 10 - Continuous service improvement 11
Conclusion 13
Appendices:
1. Terms of reference for the MPP 14 2. Timeline of MPP meetings 16 3. Letter from Panel to parents and carers 17 4. LGA report …………………………………… …..19
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Background and Context
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Background In 2017, Home to School Transport (HTST) was identified as a service that needed review. This was for a variety of reasons, including an overspent budget and a reliance on a small number of providers. Work to change this began in 2018. Members looked at this in June 2018, through the Procurement Advisory Board, and later at the Policy and Resources Committee in October 2018.
The change in contract created huge challenges for schools, operators and perhaps most importantly, children and families. The crisis hit in September, and the small HTST front-line staff did everything they could to address the consequences. The service was not placed on the council’s strategic risk register until March 2020, by which time the first independent review had already reported on the circumstances that had led to failure. Its recommendations included significant learning points for the council as a whole on improving the practice and governance of change projects and programmes.
Local Government Association (LGA) independent review Appendix 4 provides the full report produced by the LGA review team.
Members of the Children, Young People and Skills Committee (CYPS) were informed at their meeting on the 16th September 2019 that an independent review of the HTST service would take place. This was due to the significant concerns raised by members and stakeholders about the delivery of the council’s HTST arrangements. The LGA was commissioned to undertake this piece of work and the Independent Review team arrived in Brighton and Hove on the 28th January 2020 for a three-day onsite visit.
The review focused on: 1. Procurement of consultants working on HTST service 2. The Dynamic Purchasing System and Procurement of Operators 3. Implementation of the new system 4. The council’s response to the disrupted delivery of the HTST service 5. Concerns and complaints
During their visit the team spoke with 113 people directly, held more than 40 meetings, reviewed 33 survey response and read over 288 documents provided by the council and others – collectively spending more than 150 hours to determine their findings.
The review team presented their key findings and 10 recommendations to CYPS committee in March 2020 and this panel were pleased to hear that the council fully accepted all findings.
Establishment of the Member Policy Panel A Conservative Notice of Motion was passed at Full Council in October 2019 and the council thus set up a Member Policy Panel to review the changes to the service. Appendix 1 provides the agreed terms of reference for the Member Policy Panel and Appendix 2 provides a summary timeline of the work of the panel.
- At the first meeting, Cllr Hannah Clare was appointed as the panel chair. It was agreed that: - The scope of the panel would be to consider current issues and to examine the findings of the independent review - Meetings would be held at least monthly and would be open to the public and press. In addition, an agreed list of key stakeholders (a Parent Carer’s Council representative, special schools, parent/carer governors from the CYPS committee and contracted vehicle operators) would receive direct invites to attend
The panel agreed the ambition to report back to the June 2020 CYPS committee; this was later revised to November 2020.
The panel agreed to consider a comprehensive list of issues arising from the mistakes made in the HTST service. The list included: - The impact on stakeholders - How route allocations were determined - Training as well as health and safety considerations on service delivery - The impact on the year-end budget
There were two factors that lengthened the work of the panel: the desire to not clash timelines or duplicate the work of the LGA review and the impact of Covid in the city from February 2020.
Some changes to the Panel have been made since its establishment. Cllr Gary Wilkinson was unable to continue on the panel so was replaced with Cllr Amanda Grimshaw. In July 2020 Cllr John Allcock joined the panel, replacing Cllr Jackie O’Quinn, and was appointed as the panel chair.
Statement from the panel about the process and context of their work
“We regret the necessity to form as a panel, but welcomed the opportunity to look in detail at such an important area of the council’s work and responsibility. We are pleased to have led a process that has been significant in putting children and their needs back into the heart of this service area. We are very thankful to the wide range of stakeholders who have engaged so positively and openly in this process. The commitment and energy from all parties to support us in both looking back and forward has been impressive. We are grateful for the input from the Parent Carer’s Council, the leaders at the city’s special schools and to all of the contracted vehicle operators, for informing the panel’s work. This has helped us have a full understanding and appreciation of the experience you have all been through and to truly recognise the impact the poor service delivery in September 2019 has had, especially to those families, children and young people directly affected.
We’d also like to thank and recognise the hard work of the front-line staff in the HTST service, who have worked diligently and with compassion throughout this time. We also value the considered and positive input from the interim head of Home to School Transport. Under their leadership, we have seen great improvement in both the operational service and the relationships of all involved.
At the start of our process we heard concerning testimony on the substantial negative impact on families of the service disruption from August 2019, which lasted well into the autumn term that year. However, we are pleased to have heard many positive examples of how the service has improved since then.
We value having had the input from the LGA independent review report during our process. We see this as a critical turning point, in that it cemented some lessons learnt and helped the service fully develop its continuous service improvement plan, which is still being used now. We hope that plan will be further built on and that the relevant recommendations made here will factor in the service .
We have also heard about some examples of where the council have changed processes in light of the learning from this situation, for example a revised process around the use of urgency powers and a genuine embedded culture within the service around the value and necessity of coproduction. However, there are still some significant questions outstanding and this matter has been referred to Audit and Standard’s committee for further investigation.
This report sets out some of our key findings, reflections and a set of recommendations. We are pleased to be presenting these to CYPS committee in November 2020 and have confidence that the committee and the service will accept the findings and continue to make service improvements accordingly. We also want to see our findings and learning points reflected in any future commissioning arrangements. We make a number of ‘council wide’ recommendations, especially around planning large change projects and recognising when members raise risks.
We want to conclude by further recognising and emphasising that the most important thing about delivering a HTST service is getting children to school safely and calmly so they are ready to learn. We also recognise that the journey to and from school forms a significant part of a child’s day and therefore should aim to be an enjoyable experience. This is crucial and families were failed on this in the past.
We have been reminded throughout the work of our panel that the best way to design a service that will work for all, is to have coproduction at the heart of the approach.
Covid has provided the city and especially families, schools and operators with enormous challenges, stresses and worries and we have been pleased to hear throughout that the service has been stable and working well throughout that very worrying time.
As a panel, we wish to share the following principles which we believe current and future home to school transport services should be delivered under in the city: · Children and young people must be at the heart of all considerations and the service should operate in a way that allows children to arrive at school stress free and ready to learn · Timings of service decisions (eg who will be offered transport) need to allow for a fit-for-purpose service being ready by each September · Appropriate safeguards to protect children must always be in place · Smooth decision-making for families is essential, which should be helped by the agreed introduction of a parent representative on the decision-making transport panel · The budget must be fit for purpose. The recently agreed uplift for the service from the Policy and Resources Committee only covers a shortfall; it doesn’t provide additionality · Supporting young people with independent travel training should be an essential consideration and resourced where appropriate · Good communications with families is essential · Simple and efficient systems are needed, co-produced to ensure they are family-friendly. · Consistency and continuity of driver and Vehicle Passenger Assistants (VPA) should be ensured wherever possible”
Reflections, Findings and recommendations
Theme 1: Governance and oversight The panel endorse the findings of the LGA report. The LGA independent review had been agreed and was being progressed, so in order to avoid duplicating that work much of the early focus of the panel’s work was hearing from stakeholders about remaining and current concerns. This was achieved through invited submissions ahead of the meetings but also by inviting key stakeholders to speak at the public meetings. Below is a summary of the points that were raised and some of our reflections for this theme.
Panel findings and reflections: · Concerns were raised early in the panel’s work on the effectiveness, efficiency and accuracy of the current pupil information sheet process. This meant that operators did not always have the detailed knowledge about individual children that they needed. It was acknowledged by all parties that this process needed improvement. · The panel concurred with earlier calls by Councillors that HTST should be added to the corporate risk register. This only occurred when the LGA included it in their Review recommendations in March 2020. The panel feel that Councillors’ advice on this was ignored and not progressed swiftly enough. · Questions were raised by the panel about whether the council took appropriate responsibility regarding the events that led to service deficits in September 2019. The panel recognised the very real impact on and efforts of the front-line staff who responded to the service difficulties. The panel also noted the LGA’s findings that “Although senior leaders gave public apologies for the stress and disruption that had been caused at the time of the crisis, many parents felt strongly that senior leaders had not apologised in a meaningful way to affected families and without this they felt that it was difficult to move on.” · Questions were raised throughout the process about the HTST budget and sought to understand why the overspends in 2019-2020 and then 2020-2021 came about. The panel was concerned that it was difficult to obtain detail on some of these questions. · The panel recognised that during the course of the academic year, a number of recordkeeping matters greatly improved from a sub-standard position, providing assurance over suitability of drivers and VPAs and their training and decision making around route allocations. · Concerns were raised about the decision to allow a small number of VPAs to commence work with a waiver whilst their full DBS checks came back. · Discussions took place on the tension between operators needing enough contractual commitment to make appropriate investments in the right specialist vehicles and equipment, alongside the council’s need to retain a strong grip on contract management, including the ability to sanction or cease contracts where necessary. · The panel agreed strongly with the LGAs finding that the process had been rushed without adequate consideration or consultation with key stakeholders. · The panel recognise that a significant amount of information that provided evidence for the panel, the LGA and the information being presented to A&S Committee was obtained by Councillors using Freedom of Information (FoI) requests. The panel recognises that in some instances using FoI is appropriate when information might be subject to confidentiality clauses and conditions and in this case enabled some further information to be placed within the public domain. However, the panel does feel it is inappropriate for Councillors to feel they have resort to these measures and was concerned about the amount of time it can take for officers to response to some requests.
Panel recommendations : Council wide: · Systems change - The panel were concerned with all the evidence that this was not a well-managed systems change project. The council are recommended (perhaps via a recommendation to Audit and Standards Committee) to consider how the learning from this is captured and incorporated into corporate processes as a matter of urgency, to include the need for sufficient lead in time for any future significant service change. · Risk register - Council officers need to ensure robust change management by adding significant projects to the relevant risk registers and to take swifter action in future when requests are made for additions to risk registers by councilors · Co-production - The panel have seen, through the service improvements over the span of their meetings, that meaningful coproduction on key services such as this is essential. The panel recommends that all projects of this scale and significance in future have a well-resourced commitment to coproduction with stakeholders both throughout the planning and implementation and also through being part of the governance of overseeing future governance of the area of work. · Financial modelling - Future change programmes need a more robust financial modelling approach in future. Some work was done on high-level comparator budgets but there was little drilling down into the detail to understand the validity and relevance of the high-level comparisons. · Access to information - The council should review processes for Councillors to obtain information when legitimate reasons are provided. · Procurement review - In March this year, significant concerns were raised with the Council’s Chief Executive regarding the consultancy contract to advise and support the Council on the HTST procurement process. In June the Chief Executive was asked to obtain an independent review of the HTST procurement process to ensure transparency and accountability. Subsequently the matter was referred to an external Barrister for review and advice and Counsel has provided his preliminary draft advice. Given that these are matters of governance, rather than service, and given their vital importance, the Panel has determined that they would be better dealt with by the Audit & Standards Committee which met on 27 October to consider the recommendation of this Panel that a cross party panel with an Independent Person, is set up as a matter of urgency. Service specific · Committee Oversight - In 6 months time, a brief progress update paper on the service should be provided to the CYPS Committee, with a full progress update being provided on an annual basis thereafter. This fuller update should include: an update on the service improvement action plan, parent/carer feedback on the service, procurement plans and the budget position.
Theme 2: Stakeholder feedback The panel were aided greatly in their work by the generous and open contributions from stakeholders, including the Parent Carer’s Council and school leaders, as well as from operators. Their contributions enabled the panel to gain a greater understanding of the real lived experiences of service-users and providers at the current time. The panel were pleased to hear how both the relationships and co-production of and around the service improved greatly during this time, between the council, parents/carers and the operators.
Panel findings and reflections: · PaCC raised consistently throughout the process that it was essential that children are able to arrive at school ready to learn, and not distressed or agitated from their journey into school. The panel heard that issues with the service were still occurring in January 2020. By March 2020, PaCC, schools and operators fed back that improvements were occurring at pace. · PaCC and panel members agreed that it was essential that direct feedback from parent/carers, children and young people should continue to be collated, analysed and fed into service improvement plans. · Suggestions were made around needing an improved customer focus for the service, including a clearer complaints procedure. · The panel were concerned to learn that some parents and carers did not feel comfortable in raising complaints with the council for fear that complaining might lead to them being disadvantaged with the services they might be entitled to or were receiving. · The panel highlighted the importance of arrangements being in place well in advance for academic year 2020-2012, and the need for the Transport Governance Board to oversee the services’ improvement action plan. PaCC as a standing member of this board, would provide support and challenge around the improvement progress. · During the time the panel meetings were being held, the council agreed to increase the funding to PaCC to allow them to further engage in and support this work. · The panel heard from operators about the experiences and difficulties they faced following the procurement process in spring/summer, 2019. It was helpful to hear about their experiences of the systems and process, as well as reports on these issues from officers, to enable them to get a complete view of what had not worked in that process.
Panel recommendations: Council-wide: · Key performance indicators (KPIs) - The introduction of KPIs on service-user satisfaction and as providers of the service, the council remains ambitious about its targets. · Complaints processes - The council must ensure that complaints processes and procedures for parents and carers allow and encourage open and frank feedback, emphasising that feedback can be made without prejudice to services entitled to, received or being offered. · Member panels - Future Member panels of this type should learn from the strong stakeholder voice model used here. Constitutional Working Group should consider how further guidance can be drafted as to assist future member panels. Service specific: · Service feedback - Feedback from schools and operators should be regularly sought and acted upon – in a transparent way
Much of the panel’s discussions have highlighted the need to ensure that the service is procured well in future. Leading on from the comments in the LGA review, the panel felt this topic had to be explored further.
Panel findings and reflections: · All stakeholders had an opportunity throughout the panel’s work to provide feedback on the procurement process that took place for the new service arrangements in September 2019. Feedback to the panel reflected the findings of the LGA report. · Due to the Covid pandemic, requests were made throughout the panel’s meeting for the council to work creatively and in a supportive way with operators to enable them to maintain their service delivery where possible. The panel was pleased to hear about the financial support offered along with access to PPE. In June 2020, the panel heard that the operator contracts had been rolled over to provide greater consistency to providers and service users. However, robust contract performance management will continue to be undertaken to ensure compliance and value for money. · The panel heard feedback from operators and others on how the service might be contracted differently, e.g. whether the DPS provided good value for money or whether routes might be better offered out in lots rather than individually. Operators were able to give clear feedback and submissions on elements that they did not find valuable or useful about the current process, often providing comparison with how systems had worked previously. The panel were unconvinced that the procurement model for HTST put in place for September 2019 was suitable for the service being offered or reflected the needs of the city. The panel offered caution in adopting a procurement model that focused on e-auctions designed in such a way as to either give routes to the lowest bidder, or accept unnecessarily high service costs on routes receiving only one bid.
Panel recommendations: Council-wide: · Exploring options - The council can and should be encouraged to meet its statutory obligations in different ways, for example, by paying parents (based on mileage or by giving each a personal budget) or by exploring delegating some budgets to schools. However, it is the panel’s view that in order for operators to invest in delivering a high quality service they need assurance that the contracts will run (subject to good contract management) for the duration of their term. · System change - There is a point of learning for the whole council around whether there is enough lead-in time to properly plan for and achieve major systems change, including time for relevant committees to be consulted. For HTST this should include the annual procurement of each route, contracts being issued and the start of the autumn term. Service specific: · Future contractual changes – the CYPS committee will receive a future detailed report on possible new contractual arrangements for this service, which are fully co-produced with key stakeholders and that clearly seek the views and input of current providers. This model must include full considerations around sustainability and environmental impacts on the city. Any future contractual changes need to be considered with sufficient lead in time to be capable of delivery at the start a new academic year avoiding an over reliance on preparations over the summer holiday period.
Theme 4: Continuous service improvement and improving outcomes During the course of the Member Policy Panel, significant improvements were made both to the operational side of the service and also to the ongoing continuous improvement action plan. Through submissions and contributions from stakeholders throughout, the panel were able to hear directly of improvements and better relationships. This was further evidenced by a smooth start of the 20/21 academic year, despite managing Covid impacts at the same time.
Panel findings and reflections: · Early submissions from PaCC and schools highlighted the need for clarity on the complaints procedures; communications strategy with families; assurances in respect of service operator training and up-to-date Disclosing and Barring Service (DBS) certificates. · The panel recognised that the poor service at the start of the autumn term in 2019 was further exacerbated by delays in building works at both the Downs View and Hill Park school sites. · The panel noted that there was inconsistency in approach to ensuring vehicles complied with the contract requirements, particularly those of the council’s Blue Book, such as on-board CCTV and vehicle age. · Reports were made throughout the panel’s process of excellent individuals and teams working with children, young people and their families despite the unacceptable position the service was in during August/September 2019. · Stakeholders brought up lessons to be learnt in order to secure improvements for September 2020. These included allocating routes much earlier where possible, better communications with families about their child’s journeys and asking operators to introduce themselves to families over the summer. · The panel supported the arrangement that means families no longer need to reapply for transport annually, and the development of social stories to help children understand why their service may look a bit different during Covid-19. The panel did, however, record concerns about possible service disruption and sought assurance from officers. These concerns centred around whether routes would be allocated in a timely way, whether vehicles could be purchased in time and whether necessary staff recruitment would be in place before September 2020. · The panel were concerned that reasons for routes being returned to the council were not readily available and significantly, that emphasis on the failure of the service in September 2019 was largely attributed to operators returning routes. The panel learnt that there were several factors resulting in returned routes, notably misunderstandings regarding operators being able to sub-contract, and delays by the council in providing information to operators in respect to the needs and circumstances of children being transported. · In the final panel meeting in September 2020, stakeholders, including PaCC and operators, reported the positive situation at the start of term and that there was confidence that things would continue to improve now. · The panel has considered the service action plan in their meetings. The panel consider that whereas operators are required to ensure drivers and operators are suitably trained for the children in their care, the council were previously lacking in having good records. A subject that was repeated several times was a deficiency in suitable training for epilepsy and how to manage incidents, especially in vehicles carrying many children. It was recognised that some areas of work are still in development, such as a better system for pupil information sheets and moving the operator training package online. · The panel noted that service delivery was impacting the education time pupils were receiving. This was primarily as a result of a lack of clarity, planning and insurance when pupils were moved between vehicles and the school premises. The panel was concerned that pupils were therefore being educationally disadvantaged . The panel does note that in respect to managing Covid, the service, schools and operators are seeking to limit the impact on pupil education time. · The panel was informed that a consequence of the problems in transferring pupils between vehicles and the school premises, the schools were incurring additional costs to try and overcome the shortcomings of the process. · The panel heard of instances where the reporting of incidents regarding safeguarding or health and welfare concerns were not always acted upon in a timely fashion. The panel was of the opinion that any incidents being reported should be robustly recorded with actions noted and dealt with as a priority.
Panel recommendations : Council-wide: · Contract management - Robust contract management arrangements to be in place to ensure compliance with key standards (For HTST this means training, DBS and full compliance with the council’s Blue Book etc). The panel welcomes the idea of a contract management board being established to manage contracts. Service specific: · Governance board - Transport Governance Board to continue and to oversee the HTST Improvement Action Plan and ensure continuous service improvement. · Wider SEND planning - Process review of how transport needs are woven into Education, Health and Care plans and the work of SEND (given HTST sits outside the SEND team). The panel would like to see greater collaboration between these two areas with agreed roles and responsibilities. · Route allocation review – Implementing an expanded value for money tool which embeds quality considerations alongside financial information when considering bids or making route allocations. · Alternative arrangements - Alternative HTST arrangements are to be explored such as personal budgets; Independent Travel Training; mileage allowances. · Home to School Transport policy - Reviewing and co-production of the Home to School Transport Policy, which was last agreed by members in 2015. Timing – to be in place before the formal re-procurement of the service begins. New Government Guidance is expected – consultation closed in October 2019. This will cover how to review the council’s local policy. Separate post-16 guidance is also expected. · Route returns - Route returns and other significant issues with operators must be recorded in a robust manner to allow scrutiny, analysis and improved service delivery. · Future liaison - HTST should ensure close liaison between the service, schools and operators to ensure that pupils are not disadvantaged by reduced education time. · HTST should ensure close liaison between the service, schools and operators to ensure that decisions by HTST do not create budget pressures on the schools. · Incident reporting - HTST should create a robust procedure for incident reporting and a summary of incidences (complying with GDPR legislation) should be included with the reports to CYPS Committee recommended elsewhere in this report. · Vehicle checks – HTST to ensure that appropriate vehicle checks are regularly and routinely carried out.
Conclusion
The Member Policy Panel commends these recommendations to the CYPS and A&S committees and look forward to seeing the amended HTST action plan in time. The recommendations that refer to wider matters, sitting alongside and also outside of HTST / Families, Children and Learning matters will be referred on to the relevant areas in the council but an update on them will feature in the six month report back to CYPS committee.
Appendix 1: terms of reference of the panel
TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR THE HOME TO SCHOOL TRANSPORT POLICY PANEL 1. Name 1.1 The panel shall be called the Home to School Transport Policy Panel (“the Panel”.) 2. Purpose and remit 2.1 The Panel shall: Review the current issues and challenges around the home to school transport service and oversee any results of the Independent External Review; Provide advice and make recommendations to the Children, Young People and Skills Committee as well as to the Acting Executive Director, Families, Children & Learning, as necessary. 3. Status 3.1 The Panel have the status of a task and finish policy panel. It will be an advisory body and will not have subcommittee status. The political balance rules in section 15 of the Local Government and Housing Act 1989 will not apply. 4. Reporting 4.1 The Panel will report to the Children, Young People and Skills Committee with recommendations, but may also provide advice to the Executive Director for Families, Children & Learning as necessary. 5. Membership 5.1 Membership of the Panel shall consist of 6 elected Members, 2 each from the three political groups on the Council nominated by their Groups. 5.2 The appointments may be made, in accordance the wishes of the political Groups, at the meeting of the Children, Young People & Skills Committee when the terms of reference are agreed or notified to Executive Director by the relevant Group following the meeting. 5.3 Nominees will normally be selected from the membership of the relevant parent committee(s). 35 6. Chairing of meetings of the Panel 6.1 The Chair of the Panel shall be appointed by the Children, Young People and Skills Committee from members of the Panel who are members of the opposition. 6.2 If the Committee does not appoint the Chair, the Panel itself will appoint the Chair at its first meeting. An Officer authorised by the Executive Director will preside over the appointments process. 7. Meetings and ways of working 7.1 The Panel will agree ways of working appropriate to its role and remit at the scoping meeting (the meeting to discuss how the work will be organised, who to invite, and timescales.) 7.2 In line with normal practice, it is expected that the Panel will have 3 or 4 meetings, but this is without prejudice to the ability to have additional meetings if the Panel consider it necessary. 7.3 The Panel will decide whether some or all of its meetings are open to the public having regard to the nature of the issues to be discussed, the wishes of witnesses and any legal or commercial sensitivities. 8. Duration 8.1 As an ad-hoc panel, the Panel will come to an end when it concludes its deliberations and submits its report, if any, to the Parent Committee. This is expected to be early in the new year.
Appendix 2: Timeline of the work of the panel
24 October 2019 Full Council endorsed notice of motion to establish Member Policy Panel and referred to CYPS committee
11th November 2019 CYPS accepted recommendation from P&R committee and MPP was established
18th December 2019 Panel meet for first time in a private session and agree schedule of issues
Member Policy Panel Public Meetings - 23rd January 2020 - 3rd March 2020 - 20th March 2020 - 3rd June 2020 - 2nd July 2020 - 21st July 2020 - 30th September 2020
At the Children’s Young People and Skills Committee on 15th June 2020 it was agreed that the work of the Member Policy Panel could be extended by a period of up to 6 months to complete its work.
The panel then met privately on 7th and 27th October to write this report.
Following the meeting on the 7th October a decision was made to refer elements of the Panel’s considerations (and procurement process) to Audit and Standards Committee.
7th November 2020 - Present final report to CYPS committee
Appendix 3: Letter from the Panel to parents/carers whose children are in receipt of HTST – sent 2nd November 2020
Dear parents /carers
We are a panel of six councillors who have been looking at your service and have made some recommendations back to the city’s children, young people and skills committee.
We had 7 public meetings, where we heard evidence on what had happened last September and how things were now. We invited the Parent Carer Council, the transport companies, the special schools and the council’s service to come to those meetings.
We heard more about the upsetting impact the poor service last year had on your families and we wanted to ensure that those mistakes didn’t happen again. We are sorry that this happened to you. It was unacceptable and we have been clear that your children are amongst our most vulnerable young people in the city. They deserve a high-quality transport service that makes the start and end of their school day safe and stress free.
Some of the things we have recommended back to the council’s children’s committee includes: - Making sure that you are asked regularly whether you feel you are getting a good service and embrace criticism and complaints to enable swift resolution to concerns and problems raised. - When thinking about any future changes to the service your views are asked for and listened to before changes are made - That the council consistently checks to make sure that all journeys are safe and are of a high fit for purpose quality - If you have concerns we will make it easier for you to share them with us.
By our last meeting this September we heard about positive improvements with the service. We are asking children’s committee to keep asking for updates on how the service is working to ensure this continues.
We want to say a big thank you to you and your children for your cooperation with the reviews that have taken place. Hearing your views and learning how this hurt you has helped in making sure the service is now improving and mistakes will not happen again.
If you want to read our full report or watch the recording of the committee meeting you can see these here : https://present.brighton-hove.gov.uk/mgListCommittees.aspx?bcr=1
With many thanks,
Members of the Panel – Councillors John Allcock (Panel Chair), Hannah Clare, Amanda Grimshaw, Elaine Hills, Mary Mears, Lee Wares
If you have any questions about your child’s transport arrangements please contact the team here hometoschooltransport@brighton-hove.gov.uk or by calling 01273 293501.
Appendix 4: LGA report https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/independent-review-home-school-transport
1. Executive summaryThe
Local Government Association was commissioned by Brighton
& Hove Council to provide an independent review of the
Home to School Transport Service (HTST). This review was prompted
by the significant problems that occurred when the new system
was This independent review was asked to consider the procurement of the consultants working on the Home to School Transport Service (Edge Public Solutions). Edge Public Solution s began working on the service in April 2019. The independent review team found that many interviewees had concerns about the process of the procurement of the consultants. In the view of the independent review team the process was rushed and not well executed, with advice from both the council’s procurement and legal teams not taken on board. The team also found that member oversight of the decision appears to have been very limited. The Dynamic Purchasing System and Procurement of Operators was also a source of concern for the independent review team. The new purchasing system and procurement of operators was done at great speed between April and June. Edge Public Solutions repeatedly highlighted a number of risks that flowed from such a tight timetable; however, they also stated they were confident of delivering and the decision was taken to proceed. The independent review team are of the view that moving to a very different system, so quickly was not advisable and noted that many interviewees said they had raised concerns that moving to the new system with so little lead in time was likely to cause significant problems. One interviewee summed this up saying: “The crisis was predicted and predictable.” The
implementation of the new system was done very quickly due to the
tight timescales with Edge Public Solutions commencing work in
April 2019 and the system due to be in place for September 2019.
This meant there were limited opportunities to engage with parents,
carers and schools before the new system was implemented. The
concerns raised by parents, schools and operators were disregarded
and key information about the changes were not effectively
communicated to all stakeholders. Systems of communication between
the council and key stakeholders needs to be improved going
forward. Once the new service started there were clearly very
significant problems from the outset with some children not
receiving a service at all, transport arriving late, others
experiencing frequent change of operator, some being mixed
inappropriately with other children and young people or
experiencing very long journeys. The independent review team were
also very concerned that there were a number of safeguarding
incidents. The service has improved The
council’s response to the disrupted delivery of the Home to
School Transport Service showed a willingness from many different
officers and departments to come together to improve the
service. Some officers clearly went above and beyond their usual
duties in The
independent review team took part in a number of parent/carers
focus groups. There was clearly frustration with the way that
parents’ concerns and complaints had been handled. The
overstretched Home to School Transport Service team were dealing
with a The
independent review team also found that further shared
understanding and clarity is needed regarding the definitions and
boundaries of informing, consulting and co-production. In order to
rebuild trust and to ensure genuine co production of solutions
with The council needs to put children and young people back at the centre of the Home to School Transport Service making them the focus, their voice and needs should be more prominent. Parents wanted the council to fully appreciate that “transport is of huge importance to their family lives”. Some parents stated that they considered the council did not value the provision of home to school transport. They considered that the need to re-apply each year, the application form and the attitude of some council staff were intended to dissuade them from seeking transport support for their child.
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