Learners with an EHCP in receipt of Transport - Find a freedom of information request

Under the Freedom of Information Act 2010, can you please provide me with the following information:

1. The total number of Post 16 learners with an Education and Health Care Plan (EHCP) in receipt of Transport provided by the Lead Authority (LA).

2. The total cost of the transport provided for Post 16 learners with an EHCP.

3. The total income generated from any charges the LA applies to Post 16 Special Educational Needs (SEN) Learners.

4. The total number of Post 16 learners provided with transport assistance (both Mainstream and those with an EHCP).

5. The total income generated from any Post 16 transport charges (both Mainstream and EHCP).

All of the above, but for low income families only.

Where there may be difficulty in identifying cost specific to post 16 SEN learners due to their travel with learners in a lower age groups, please take the average cost of transport per SEN pupil and multiply by the number of post and pre 16 learners travelling.

1. On 1 July 2019 there were 320 post-16 learners with EHCP who received transport from Lincolnshire County Council. 1 July was picked as a recent representative date that would not be affected by transport ceasing at the end of the academic year. It is possible that a small number of learners with EHCPs receive transport under a non-SEN entitlement code however these people would be difficult to identify from our datasets so they are not included here.

2. Lincolnshire County Council does not hold this dataset in this specific way so some average cost assumptions have had to be made to generate an approximate figure of £1,068,982.50 in the financial year 2018/2019.

3. Lincolnshire County Council does not hold this dataset as it only collates the total income and does not break it down per pupil type. However, the annual financial contribution requested by the Council for Post 16 transport is £570 per annum and given there are 320 Post 16 pupils in receipt of transport with an EHCP on 1 July 2019 this would be approximately £182,400 per annum.

4. On 1 July 2019 there were 1642 post-16 learners who received transport from Lincolnshire County Council. 1 July was picked as a recent representative date that would not be affected by transport ceasing at the end of the academic year.

5. £1,074,707.16 in the financial year 2018/2019.

6. Lincolnshire County Council (LCC) does not hold data on whether or not all our post-16 learners who are in receipt of transport are from low income families. LCC will know this for pupils who are on roll in school sixth forms from the census data, but this is not captured at the point of their application for transport and LCC does not hold this information for pupils in other post 16 settings such as colleges or other recognised providers.