Jason Beattie (SEND and Passenger Assistant Manager)/Sebastian Williams (Review & Best Practice Officer) will give an update on behalf of the Passenger Transport Team at the meeting.
Minutes:
Jason Beattie (SEND and Passenger Assistant Manager) provided an update on behalf of the passenger transport team and highlighted the following:
· Around 1800 SEND (special educational needs and disabilities) students were currently being transported to their education placements in and out of the county on a daily basis with an ongoing upward trend in the demand for SEND transport;
· Current challenges included the diminishing lack of capacity in taxis operating post Covid and the numbers of larger vehicles available. Recently there had also been a number of new education establishments opening including Silverwood School in Rowde with 100 more students requiring transportation which had been managed by the employment of in house drivers and using approximately 90 Council owned vehicles across the county; and
· There had been considerable growth in numbers requiring transportation in the in last 12 months and this was likely to continue with Exeter House in Salisbury opening a second site from September 2025 and a provision in Tidworth which would mean that an additional 130 students would require transport.
The Chairman suggested that further consideration could be given to having a driver’s licence that would only be valid for the use of those carrying out education setting contract work for the Council to help with the taxi driver capacity issue.
A Committee Member commented that it would have been useful for a brief report to have been prepared to be sent out with the agenda to include the breakdown of current figures etc. She also felt that consideration needed to be given to a solution for the shortage of drivers/vehicles and that may be a different model and to ask Councillors for help in thinking of ways this could work, appreciating that staffing resources to manage changes and enforcement may be difficult but not impossible
Danial Farr (Fleet Compliance Officer) reported that all drivers would need to follow a prescribed route to obtain a licence, even if this was just for being able to be a driver carrying out contract work for education setting transportation and this would include a DBS check and a medical assessment. Also, if they were an individual driver they would need to provide a suitable vehicle. It has highlighted that taxi licensing was legislative and that the Council must comply with current laws and regulations.
Jason Beattie confirmed the vast majority of drivers also have with them a passenger assistant present in vehicles transporting children and young people and that they would also be subject to a DBS check. Jason commented that they hear from taxi operators that the licensing process can take some time and if they are taking on new drivers they are incurring costs for a period of time before the drivers are able to start working for them and then because of the time taken some of those drivers then don’t go on to commence working for the which is a challenge for operators.
Danial Farr confirmed that indeed the taxi licensing process could take some time due to the DBS check (which covers adults and children) which could take anything from a few days to up to 6 weeks. There could also be some medical check issues as some drivers may want their own GPs to carry out the medical or having to wait for an appointment for a group 2 medical.
A Committee member suggested that Officers be tasked to look at the options/possibilities for an education contract only driver licence and report back the findings to the next meeting of the Committee.
It was noted that the cost of all home to school education contracts (mainstream and SEND) across Wiltshire was in the region of £30 million with over 10,000 children and young people in total being transported. Wiltshire Council was currently the biggest customer of the licensed taxi trade.
Resolved:
1. That the Committee note the update on behalf of the Passenger Transport Team.
2. That the Committee receive an update at their next meeting on the options/possibilities for an education contract only driver licence.