caring conservatives
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| Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares http://www.taxi-driver.co.uk/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=25699 |
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| Author: | captain cab [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:36 am ] |
| Post subject: | Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares taking children to school Some of the children in care – “Looked After Children” – are disabled. Others have highly “challenging” behaviour and are so disruptive they are taken out of regular schools and placed in Pupil Referral Units. These are children who as well as being in care also have a “Statement of Educational Needs”. Each case will be different but it will often be necessary for special passenger transport arrangements for SEN children to be taken to schools – sometimes involving escorts as well as taxi drivers. What is much harder to justify is the widespread arrangement where children in care are taken to and from school by taxi – even though they are at mainstream schools and are not disabled. This is an item of spending which is not merely wasteful but harmful. For children in care having a taxi to pick them up from school marks them out as different. It creates a stigma. Their schoolmates ask why a taxi picks them up from school. Primary school children – these days at least – are generally felt to need someone to pick them up and drop them off to school. But for those children in care it is far better for foster carers to do this – in the way that parents do. The journey home from school is a chance for children to tell their parents – or foster carers – about their day, to take pride in achievements, and to seek comfort and advice over anxieties. There is a different relationship with an escort of taxi driver that they might have never met met before. Sometimes there will be difficulties where a child is at school far away from their home with their foster carer – but that is just another reason why councils should seek to avoid such unsuitable placements. This is a significant spending item – as the figures below which I obtained via FOI requests show. Spending on taxis to provide school transport for children in care – for non-disabled children going to mainstream schools Barking and Dagenham – £50,192 Bath and North East Somerset Council – £59,000 Bexley – Nil Blackpool – £15,510.17 Bournemouth – Nil Buckinghamshire – £19,904 Bury - £7,520.00. Bristol – £4,920.68 Camden – £23,057.40 Central Bedfordshire – £139,931.64 Cheshire West and Cheshire – £229,397 Cornwall – £308,000 Derbyshire – £184,456 Devon – £474,291 Dudley – £376,163 East Sussex – £91,322 Enfield – £280,943 Gloucestershire - £46,330.78 Haringey - £32,331.62 Hammersmith and Fulham – Nil Havering – £4,944.10 Hertfordshire – £416,839 Kensington and Chelsea – Nil Kirklees – £484,330 Lancashire – £3,000 Luton – £90,873.41 Merton – Nil Middlesbrough – £56,388 Milton Keynes – £1,152 Northumberland – £72,596 Nottinghamshire – £488,321.23 Oldham – £14,006.80 Peterborough – £352,330 Plymouth – £21,531.24 Reading – Nil Rotherham – £372,542.84 Shropshire - £199,994. Slough – Nil South Tyneside- , £183,350 Staffordshire – £280,346 Sutton – £43,177 Surrey – £346,300 Swindon – £116,454.92 Torbay – £8,390 Tower Hamlets – £55,910 Waltham Forest – Nil Wandsworth – Nil Warwickshire - £877,323 Westminster- £503.94 Wigan – Nil Wiltshire – £199,891 Windsor and Maidenhead – £21,534.21 Wirral – £10,086.00 Worcestershire - £257,452 York – £104,796 These are figures from just 55 of the 151 “upper tier” authorities – those with Children’s Services Departments. The total comes to £7.4 million. Some of those listed above do not include the cost of escorts – so the true figure will be higher. Perhaps the total spending on this for all 151 councils would be over £20 million. Some councils (such as my own) do not provide transport for non-SEN children in care. Many councils said they had no record of how much they spent on taxis taking able-bodied children in care to and from mainstream schools. Where they had a total figure for school transport costs for children in care it was often very considerable. Birmingham’s, for example, was over half a million pounds. Leicester’s was £351,787. The annual bill for Leeds is £1.5 million. They should find out. They should ask children in care whether what they think of being collected by taxis – the ones I spoke to found it humiliating and I was pleased that after I discussed the matter with a social worker the arrangement was reviewed. It’s tough enough children in care to try and fit in. We should not be making it worse – at enormous cost to the taxpayer. source: http://www.conservativehome.com/localgo ... chool.html |
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| Author: | captain cab [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:37 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
caring conservatives
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| Author: | Sussex [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 9:22 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
I see B&H's numbers aren't there. Thank f*** for that. |
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| Author: | Nidge2 [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 11:35 am ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
Nice to see Nottinghamshire are in there at nearly £500k |
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| Author: | trotskys twin [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:18 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
captain cab wrote: caring conservatives These children should be transported in council vehicles with attendants employed by the council and on the living wage and naturally UNIONISED! glad you published Camdens figures will get that little swindle stopped ASAP  A taxi is totally unfit for this purpose can you imagine the likes of Wanna Nidge or others nutters being let loose on these children  The cost is of no account these children deserve the best facilities 
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| Author: | grandad [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:23 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
trotskys twin wrote: The cost is of no account these children deserve the best facilities How do you know what these children deserve? You don't know any of the circumstances. |
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| Author: | trotskys twin [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:26 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
grandad wrote: trotskys twin wrote: The cost is of no account these children deserve the best facilities How do you know what these children deserve? You don't know any of the circumstances. Their children nuff said in my book
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| Author: | grandad [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:30 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
trotskys twin wrote: grandad wrote: trotskys twin wrote: The cost is of no account these children deserve the best facilities How do you know what these children deserve? You don't know any of the circumstances. Their children nuff said in my book Now who is being naive? |
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| Author: | captain cab [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 1:34 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
grandad wrote: Now who is being naive? the conservative party - they are putting money before children and have no idea of the circumstances involved |
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| Author: | bloodnock [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 2:42 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
Who is entitled to free school transport? Free school transport is awarded to pupils who live more than: • 2 miles away from their catchment primary school • 3 miles away from their catchment high school Thats our LA's take on things |
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| Author: | captain cab [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 2:44 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
bloodnock wrote: Who is entitled to free school transport? Free school transport is awarded to pupils who live more than: • 2 miles away from their catchment primary school • 3 miles away from their catchment high school Thats our LA's take on things of course education cuts in England tend to mean more pupils are entitled to free transport - unless the tory party want to but councils buses and employ drivers then licensed vehicles are the cheapest option |
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| Author: | Nidge2 [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:09 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
grandad wrote: Now who is being naive? Stop quoting that bell end Grandad. |
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| Author: | grandad [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 3:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
bloodnock wrote: Who is entitled to free school transport? Free school transport is awarded to pupils who live more than: • 2 miles away from their catchment primary school • 3 miles away from their catchment high school Thats our LA's take on things There are others who qualify as well. 
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| Author: | toots [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:49 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
Personally speaking I think when Politicians stop using Taxis, Chauffeurs etc at the expense of the public purse then they can start asking others to do the same, bloody hypocrites 
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| Author: | captain cab [ Thu Dec 04, 2014 8:55 pm ] |
| Post subject: | Re: Councils spending millions on unnecessary taxi fares |
toots wrote: Personally speaking I think when Politicians stop using Taxis, Chauffeurs etc at the expense of the public purse then they can start asking others to do the same, bloody hypocrites just a stick to beat the poor with |
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