CORNWALL Council is seeking the views of young people, parents and carers, schools and colleges and the wider public on potential changes to its Post 16 transport policy.

The Post 16 transport policy sets out how and when the council provides subsidised transport for young people aged 16 to 19 to attend school, college or another education establishment. This only affects the Post 16 transport policy and not any other school transport policies.

Whilst young people are now required by law to be engaged in education, employment or training up to the age of 18, Cornwall Council does not have a statutory duty to provide home to school or college transport, free of charge, for learners aged 16 to 19 in the same way as it does for primary and secondary aged pupils up to the end of Year 11.

This means that the council’s subsidised Post 16 transport scheme is a discretionary provision.

The council spent more than £13-million, providing school transport for children and young people last year, of which around £2.2-million was spent on Post 16 transport.

Andrew Wallis, the council’s lead member for children and young people, said: “We have seen significant cuts in our funding from the government over the past few years, which have had a very real impact on our education and social care services. As a result, we have had to review all our policies to ensure that we are making the best use of the resources we have.

“Unfortunately when the government raised the education participation age to 18, it failed to provide any additional money to local authorities to provide Post 16 transport. While we are committed to ensuring that young people in Cornwall continue to have access to a range of Post 16 education opportunities, we have been forced to take the difficult decision to look at reducing the level of subsidy we provide.

“We wanted to seek the views of all interested parties before any decisions are made and I would encourage as many people as possible to take part in the consultation process.”

Following approval by members of the young people policy advisory committee in December, the council is consulting on a number of potential changes to the Post 16 transport policy, which would come into effect from either September of this year, or September 2018.

The council is seeking views on the proposals from all interested parties, including young people, parents or carers, schools and colleges or other learning providers, and members of the public.

The consultation continues until Friday, March 17. The full consultation paper and details of how interested parties can give their views on the proposed changes can be found at www.cornwall.gov.uk/collegetransport