Archived decisions

Contact: Kevin Ings, ext 6986 email: [email protected]

1. Summary

1.1 The Passenger Transport Group in the Environment Department works with a range of voluntary and community sector organisations to either directly or indirectly support the provision of community transport services that are best delivered by the sector. Many of these arrangements are covered through service agreements.

1.2 On 2 January 2007 the Executive Member for Environment considered a report which set out the proposed future arrangements for supporting these organisations. This addressed the need to move from service agreements to grants or contracts as required by the new Hampshire Compact Funding Code. It was agreed that:

(i) these new arrangements should be introduced as soon as is practically possible after 1 April 2007 or when any existing service agreements expire if this is later;

(ii) in the case of existing service agreements for Dial-A-Ride, Call and Go and the Wheels to Work schemes, that these should continue whilst further discussions on the most appropriate future arrangements for funding these services take place in order to meet the requirements of the Code of Practice on Funding and Procurement whilst also delivering best value; and

(iii) in compliance with the One Compact for Hampshire, operators and other joint funders should be consulted regarding these proposals before any changes are implemented.

1.3 Discussions have taken place with officers from the Chief Executive's Department, particularly regarding some of the issues associated with transferring service agreements to contracts. Consultation with the operators and the other funders, primarily district councils is expected to start during April. The results of the consultation exercise will then be reported back after the 12-week consultation period before the future funding arrangements are confirmed.

1.4 There is a need, therefore, to put in place interim funding arrangements to ensure continuity of funding for these schemes whilst discussion and consultation takes place. This report proposes interim funding arrangements to cover the period prior to the implementation of the new service provision arrangements. The County Council payments identified in this report are funded from the provisions made in the Community Transport Budget.

1.5 This decision will maintain and develop services provided by community transport schemes in Hampshire which contribute towards maximising well-being.

2. Recommendations

2.1 That the initial allocation of payments for schemes covered by existing service agreements, as identified in the attached appendix, be agreed.

2.2 That the existing service agreements which are due to expire at the end of March 2007, as identified in the attached appendix, be extended until 31 March 2008 where the current service agreement allows for this and the initial allocation of payments to these schemes be agreed.

2.3 That the service agreements which have been negotiated but not yet completed, as identified in the attached appendix, be finalised and signed and the initial allocation of payments to these schemes be agreed.

2.4 That new interim one-year service agreements be entered into for those schemes specified in the attached appendix, in order to maintain existing services, and the initial allocation of payments to these schemes be agreed.

2.5 That the initial grant allocations for schemes, as identified in the attached appendix be agreed.

2.6 That the Director of Environment, in consultation with the Executive Member for Environment, be given delegated authority to approve minor variations where negotiations are not yet concluded.

3. Dial-A-Ride and Call and Go Services

3.1 Service agreements were first introduced in 1995/96 for the Dial-A-Ride and Call and Go services in Hampshire which operate for five days or more each week. These agreements are renewed every five years. The services covered by this arrangement operate in Basingstoke, Eastleigh, Fareham, Gosport, Hart, Havant, New Forest, Rushmoor and Winchester.

3.2 Allocations to schemes for 2007/08 are listed in the attached appendix. Most of the above service agreements will run until 31 March 2008. However, there will be a need to put in place a short term agreement for the New Forest Call and Go service up until 31 March 2008.

4. Area-wide Community Transport Schemes

4.1 These community transport schemes provide a pool of wheelchair accessible mini-buses, available for hire by local voluntary and community groups. The contribution made by the County Council usually represents the cost of a `transport organiser' post and associated administration costs to oversee the operation of a fleet, ensure that mini-buses are properly maintained, and to recruit and train mini-bus drivers. The reason behind these payments is to build capacity in the voluntary and community sector so that affordable transport is available to local groups. A number of these payments have been taken over more recently from Adult Services and a process has been underway to bring these payments under service agreements to ensure a defined service specification combined with quality and performance standards.

4.2 The schemes covered by this arrangement operate in Basingstoke, Eastleigh, East Hampshire, Hart, Havant, New Forest and Test Valley. Allocations to these area-wide community transport schemes for 2007/08 are listed in the appendix. Most of the above service agreements will run until at least 31 March 2008. Negotiations for a number of these schemes, as specified in the appendix, are nearing conclusions and it is proposed that these should be allowed to be finalised and signed.

5. Wheels to Work Schemes

5.1 The County Council is involved in supporting two Wheels to Work schemes (New Forest and Test Valley) in Hampshire. These schemes provide young people with the short-term loan of a moped to enable them to access employment and training. The agreement for the Test Valley scheme expires on 31 March 2007 and therefore a one-year interim agreement is proposed until 31 March 2008. The allocations will enable these two schemes to be merged into one during the next financial year to provide the basis for developing a county-wide scheme if additional funds can be identified. Allocations to these schemes for 2007/08 are shown in the appendix.

6. Grant Assisted Community Transport Schemes

6.1 In addition to the above, a number of smaller scale payments are made to community transport operators. These cover the cost of weekly or fortnightly shopper trips, small-scale rural dial-a-ride services, often run entirely by volunteers, or pump-priming small-scale transport initiatives. The estimated cost of supporting these services in 2007/08 is shown in the appendix.

7. Contracted Services

7.1 A number of contracted services are also paid for from the Community Transport Budget. In the main these are demand-responsive services provided by commercial mini-bus operators or taxi companies. A number of these have been introduced following the area reviews to replace bus services. The cost of maintaining these contracted services during 2007/08 is shown in the appendix.

8. Impact Assessments

8.1 Many of the services operated by these schemes will be available to all bona fide voluntary and community groups in their area of operation. Where services are available to individuals, they are often targeted at members of the community who are disadvantaged in some way.

9. Conclusion

9.1 The report sets out interim arrangements to ensure a continuity of funding for those community transport schemes supported by the County Council, whilst discussion and consultation takes place with the voluntary sector and other partner-funders on the proposed new funding arrangements. In some cases this will require either agreements to be extended or short-term service agreements to be entered into with organisations. The payments identified in this report will be made from the Community Transport Budget in 2007/08.

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(i) Under Service Agreements schemes receive an inflation increase. Schemes may also receive an increase in their payment where there is a justifiable increase in their operating costs or a development opportunity is supported.

(ii) Some of these figures represent initial allocations to schemes and therefore some minor adjustments may be necessary once negotiations have concluded.

(iii) In most cases other contributions come from district councils. For schemes marked (i) this comes from the bus subsidy budget.

* These are payments allocated to existing contracts.