Salford City Council has cut £250,000 from its own Passenger Transport Unit, forcing children with SEN (Special Education Needs) and medical needs to mostly get taxis, rather than Council buses, to school.
Now, an internal audit of `home to school taxis', marked `Confidential', highlights failings in the service, particularly with regard to safeguarding and DBS (Disclosure and Barring Service) checks, as well as the process of tendering for the services.
Incredibly, the report notes, "Taxi drivers are not given safeguarding training" and "DBS clearance details are not recorded for all current drivers". Even more incredibly, the report adds that the Assistant Director for Operations, Community Health and Social Care "has not expressed any specific concerns"; and the failings are only given `Medium Priority' in the report, while failings in the awarding of taxi contracts are given `High Priority'.
The internal audit report notes that Salford Council currently contracts 81 taxi companies to provide home to school transport for 813 pupils, travelling to 77 educational establishments or specialised centres using 151 different routes. In the financial year 2013/14, the total cost of the service was £2.7million.
With regard to taxi firms tendering for the service, the report highlights three High Priority issues...
The security arrangements for the storing of tender submissions before the closing date are not adequate.
The contract for ad hoc/emergency journeys has not been awarded through the appropriate procurement channels.
Members of staff dealing with tenders are not required to declare business interests.
It also adds a Medium Priority that "There is no written guidance for the calculation and award of price reviews and processing of invoices".
However, it will be the lack of safeguarding and DBS checks that will most concern parents. The report worryingly concludes that the "results of this review enable us to provide a limited level of assurance with regard to the adequacy and operating
effectiveness of the controls in place at the time of our audit."
Meanwhile, Salford Council is this year also undergoing a further review of SEN children's transport, aiming to cut £120,000 "to reduce need for council to provide transport"; meaning, via assessments, it will wash its hands of any responsibility at all to many parents and young people.
A Salford Council `savings' report states it aims to "Maximise independence of young people with independent travel training/review of travel arrangements and continued efficiency of school travel arrangements".
In its drive for `efficiency' Salford Council appears to be diminishing protection for some of the city's most vulnerable young people.
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