Agenda item

7.1

In attendance were the appellant and Julie Pryor and Andy Tierney (Customer Services).

7.2

The Chair welcomed everyone to the meeting and asked attendees to introduce themselves.  She then outlined the procedure which would be followed during the meeting.

7.3

The Executive Director, People Services, submitted a report and commented upon a case where the parent had appealed against the administrative decision made by the Executive Director with regard to the refusal to grant a home to school travel bus pass (Case No.BR/01).

7.4

Andy Tierney explained the Stage 1 review and Stage 2 appeals process regarding the City Council’s Home to School Transport Policy.  Mr. Tierney informed the Committee of the reasons why the request for a home to school travel pass had been refused at Stage 1.  He also informed the Committee that the appellant did not apply for any of the four nearest schools when applying for transition from junior to secondary school.

7.5

The appellant explained that, following a decision taken by the Ombudsman that this case should be reheard, he outlined the reasons for the request for the home to school travel pass.

7.6

In response to questions from Members of the Committee, the appellant stated that he could produce incident reports from the Police which showed that there had been threats of violence to family members, both online and verbally.  He said that, although the family did not live in the Sheffield area, the abuser still travelled to and from the area each day due to the fact that they worked in the area.

7.7

The Customer Services officer informed the Committee that the abusive child no longer attended the catchment school.

7.8

In response to further questions, the appellant stated that he had a younger daughter who would attend the same feeder school that his son attended and then the same secondary school.  The appellant felt that the Council’s policy was flawed and that his son was being treated unfairly as he knew of other children living in the area who did receive a bus pass, to which the Committee were informed that such families did live within the catchment area and were entitled to receive a home to school travel pass.

7.9

At this stage in the proceedings, the appellant and officers left the meeting to enable the Committee to consider the evidence.

7.10

RESOLVED: That the appeal be not upheld on the grounds that there are no exceptional circumstances demonstrated and, having regard to the Council’s Home to School Transport Policy, the school that the pupil is requesting a pass for is not the catchment/qualifying school (Case No.BR/01).