Important changes are to be made to the conditions of contract issued by South Ayrshire Council to contractors who transport children with Additional Support Needs (ASN) to and from school.

The Council presently provides free school transport to children with ASN if this has been recommended by staff from either the Psychological Services or Social Work sections of the Council.

The Convener of the Council's Lifelong Learning Committee, Councillor Pam Paterson said: "There are currently 114 Additional Support Needs contracts in place, transporting just over 400 children to and from school each day.

"The specification of the conditions of these contracts is already much higher than that applied to main stream school contracts, and reflects the needs of some of the most vulnerable children in South Ayrshire.

"The changes will further improve the quality of service the children receive and make contractors more accountable for their actions."

The changes will bring the conditions of contract in line with the Council's Taxi and Private Hire Licensing arrangements. This will ensure that South Ayrshire licensees are not disadvantaged when tendering for ASN contracts.

The changes that will be implemented are:

• Contractors will be responsible for meeting the cost of any disclosure checks for drivers and escorts relating to the award of contracts from August 2006 onwards. This will bring ASN disclosures in line with the disclosure arrangements for mainstream school transport.
  
• All vehicles will be require to be checked either annually or twice yearly depending on the type of vehicle being used. An agent appointed by the Council will carry out the inspection and the contractor will pay for the cost of the inspection that is estimated at £111. This is already a requirement under the Council's Taxi and Private Hire Licensing arrangements.
  
• All drivers employed on ASN contracts will be required to undertake an accredited training qualification, such as the Taxi Drivers and Private Hire Vehicle Drivers Course, which is delivered at Ayr College. Drivers will be responsible for the £60 cost of the course a £50 grant can be applied .
  
• All vehicles will be subject to age restrictions, in line with Council Taxi and Private Hire Licensing arrangements, which is six years for private hire and nine years for purpose built taxis. Presently vehicles with more than eight seats are exempt from the licensing age restrictions and it is proposed that they be subject to the nine year age limit.
  
• A contract will be terminated if a contractor has received three standing written warnings within a twelve week period or six standing written warnings in any twelve month period.

The average cost of providing ASN transport is £2,004 per child compared to £600 per child for mainstream contracts. Contracts are awarded on a competitive basis and therefore it is not possible to determine whether or not there will be any resource implications arising from these proposals. The current 2005/06 ASN transport budget is £751,831 and if any overspend were incurred it will be met from within the Education, Culture and Lifelong Learning Section.

February 2006