Issue - meetings

The Leader invited Mrs Marta Garcia de la Vega to come forward and make her representations to the meeting.

Mrs Marta Garcia de la Vega addressed the Cabinet as a parent, carer and founder representative of SendPACT a local parent group, working to support SEND families in the borough. She was speaking to oppose the agreement of the contract award for the provision of SEND Transport Transformation Consultancy Services at agenda item 7. She was also speaking from her experience as a parent carer and user of SEND transport. In Mrs Garcia de la Vega’s view , prior to 2015, the SEND transport service had been working well in the borough but after the reforms to the SEND transport were taken forward in post 2015, that issues had been arising. Mrs Marta Garcia de la Vega felt that instead of reductions in the funding envelope for this service area, it needed more investment to support SEND children.

Mrs Garcia de la Vega spoke about the general lack of consultation with parents about changes to the SEND transport service and wanted evidence of this past consultation mentioned in the report. She questioned the potential impact of providing a gainshare for a private company for supporting this transport service and what this would mean for the provision. In her view this seemed to be a private business making profit from helping the Council make savings to the SEND transport service. The agreement of this contract implied this, which was worrying for her as SEND service user. She further questioned how a service can be improved by making a 20% cut in the budget.

She referred to the political beliefs of the Cabinet and to their local commitment to not privatising services and also to their vow to involve the community in their decision making. She asked that they uphold these principles and ensure that parents were consulted on changes to the SEND transport service and included in the matters that affect their children. Mrs Garcia de la Vega wanted her deputation to be considered as an intervention and reminder to uphold these principles and position.

In response to questions from Councillors, Chandwani, Ibrahim, Amin, and James, the deputation, Mrs Marta Garcia de la Vega, responded and advised the following:

• A new policy concerning SEND transport reforms had been drafted in late 2015 and been subject to consultation with parents who were not happy with the draft as it did not reflect their experiences or struggles. A final policy was subsequently released not taking forward any of the parents’ concerns previously raised. In 2016 there were many difficulties experienced with the SEND transport service and concerns expressed. The process for accessing transport changed in 2017 and now included a 10-page form for completion which was not easily completed and required many supporting documentation. This was only available online and not felt to be an inclusive way of submitting information to the Council. Many parents of SEND children did not have time to  ...  view the full minutes text for item 105