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School closure fears as council reported to Information Commissioner over confidential report
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North Yorkshire Council has been reported to the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) for failing to release a report on the impact of home-to-school transport changes amid fears they could lead to school closures and staff cuts.
Parents and community leaders from the School Transport Action Group (STAG) have submitted a complaint to the data watchdog after the authority did not respond to a Freedom of Information request to reveal the findings of a school impact study.
The report, which assessed the possible impact of the policy change on individual schools, was prepared before councillors agreed to the new policy which means transport is only provided to a child’s nearest school, rather than their catchment school.
However, it was not shown to all councillors ahead of the vote in July last year and has not been released to the public since.
Leaders at Settle College have warned the changes could cost the school £300,000 a year and lead to redundancies, while it is understood governors at Richmond School are also concerned about the financial impact.
The policy change means children from some villages which have traditionally sent pupils to the Swaledale school will only get free transport to schools in Cumbria, County Durham or Darlington.
Campaigners fear rural primary schools, where a small change in the roll could affect their viability, could be hit hardest.
STAG, which was formed to fight the school transport changes, says it submitted the FOI request on November 27 and is yet to receive the report, or a reason why it cannot be released.
A spokesperson for the group said:
This policy could result in some smaller primary schools facing closure and leave secondary schools being forced to cut jobs and shrink the curriculum as budgets reduce.
The public has a right to know what the fallout will be from this policy change.
Not only is this being withheld from all of us, it’s also being withheld from councillors who were not given this information when they voted the change through last July.
How on earth can they claim to have made an informed decision when they were kept in the dark on the harm it will do to our schools?
Richmond councillor Stuart Parsons, leader of the Independent group on the authority, has also been critical of the failure to release the report.
He described the policy change as “a joke which isn’t funny”, adding:
The more we have sunk into this morass from North Yorkshire Council, the less we know about the loss of income for schools, and the threat to teaching staff and curriculum activities.
Parents are being messed around and communities are being messed around, and there’s absolutely no justification for them turning government guidance into policy.
Stokesley councillor, Bryn Griffiths, leader of the Liberal Democrat group, has asked for data on the impact on schools in his area of but has not received it.
He said:
I’m very disappointed not to have had a response to date.
Councillors need to come to an informed decision taking into account all factors affecting this issue.
In papers published in July last year, council officers confirmed that a study was done “to avoid any unintended consequences including risk to small school viability, where a small reduction in pupil numbers can be a significant factor”.
This was given to Cllr Annabel Wilkinson, executive member for education, learning and skills.
Information was also provided to individual schools on how the changes may affect their setting.
On making the report public, the document said:
The council does not consider this indicative school-level data set essential to the consultation process.
This information has been treated confidentially as we believe sharing it would prejudice the effective conduct of public affairs in the council’s discussions with schools.
A petition put forward by campaigners will be debated by Richmond and Northallerton councillors on Monday.
The local democracy reporting service has contacted North Yorkshire Council and Cllr Wilkinson for comment.
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