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School bus and taxi costs go over budget
By Katya Mira
A council-run service which transports children to school is thousands of pounds over budget because of increased motoring costs and demands of pupils with special educational needs.
The service which pays for children in Brighton and Hove to get to school is predicted have spent £330,000 more than it should have for the 2006-07 financial year.
Some of the money was spent on buses going to city-based schools.
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Other funding went towards taxis taking youngsters with special educational needs to centres at Downs View, Varndean and other colleges further afield.
The overspend is partly due to bus and taxi fare rises which add up to £623,000 more than they were two years ago.
There has also been an increase of £105,000 in the bill for single-occupancy cars because some pupils, especially those with special needs, either pose a risk to others or are at risk themselves and so have to travel in their own taxi.
The bill for escorts on the transport has also gone up by 60 per cent since last year.
Escorts are provided where children are either too young or otherwise incapable of travelling on their own, where they need assistance entering or leaving the vehicle, or when supervision is needed to keep order during the journey.
The closure of Comart school in Whitehawk and the cost of sending its former pupils further afield has also led to an increase of £22,000 in bus fare costs.
While councillors have said money needs to be spent on the Home To School transport service, the frequent overspending meant other services were losing out.
A panel is being set up to investigate the service and look at ways costs could be reduced. The Children and Young People's Overview Committee will meet on Tuesday to discuss what form this investigation should take.
Vice-chairman of the group councillor Jan Young said it was difficult to cut costs because the service was essential and the shortfall would probably be made up with council tax money.
She said: "Children need to go from A to B for their education and those with special needs have to have what they need. They often have to go quite far in taxis, carers need to be paid to go with them and they can only go one at a time.
"But what we need to look at are ways of making it less costly, even if we were to ask the drivers to reduce their fares or put more than one child in per taxi.
Council leader Simon Burgess said it was difficult to see how to cut costs in this area and he would welcome any suggestions. He said: "We have all been banging our heads against a wall trying to work this one out.
"We have made savings but the savings could never be enough."
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