Meeting documents

Members will discuss the work that Community Impact Bucks have carried out on behalf of the Council in relation to community transport. They will consider the role that community transport plays, key challenges, examples of where schemes have been successful and further development opportunities.

 

Paul O’Hare, Community Impact Bucks

Angie Sarchet, Community and Cohesion Manager

 

Papers:

Community Transport Hub summary

 

Links:

·         Community Car Scheme Toolkit:http://tinyurl.com/qgutsjo

·         Community Bus Toolkit:http://tinyurl.com/pu2gzxh

Paul O’Hare, Community Impact Bucks and Angie Sarchet, Community and Cohesion Manager were welcomed to the meeting.

 

Mr O’Hare explained that the Committee received an update about public transport in July 2013 during which Community Transport was identified as an element of public transport within the county. This includes an element of work in the community by Buckinghamshire County Council over the last few years.  The report gives details of the current schemes and where they are taking place in the county.

 

Community Impact Bucks has supported community transport for a number of years. Funding has also come from a number of sources over the years.  This includes Buckinghamshire County Council, the National Countryside Agency and District Councils.

 

Community Impact Bucks currently manages and run the Community Transport Hub which works closely with all the community car schemes across the county.  There are approximately 46 schemes that serve Bucks although the scheme may not be based in Bucks i.e. a scheme in Leighton Buzzard goes to Edlesborough.  Taxi token scheme one operated at Parish Council level in Gerrards Cross.

 

The Community Transport Hub is currently jointly funded by Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire NHS Trust.  The contact for funding expires in May 2014.

[Subsequent to the meeting Mr O’Hare advised that the contract for funding expires at the end of June 2014)

 

The Hub operates and runs a free phone number for members of the public to call between 9am-4.pm Monday to Friday to help them with their transport needs.  Once a call is taken help can be given to signpost the individual to the most relevant service to suit their needs i.e. community transport providers such as Dial-A-Ride and local voluntary car scheme.  The vast majority of the calls are from elderly and vulnerable people who need to get to a GP or hospital appointment. 

 

The Community Impact Bucks Team arranged a week of publicity around Buckinghamshire to promote the ‘Give a Lift Week’ and encourage communities to look at setting up a scheme in their area.

 

A promotional video on community transport was produced in partnership with Bucks County Council.  The video highlights the benefits of running a community transport scheme and the difference it make to those people who use the services and those who volunteer their time.

 

There were 21 attendees at a recent Community Transport Scheme training day.  This included training on manual handling, first aid and doorstop crime. The awareness raising session was built on a training needs analysis carried out by Community Impact Bucks. 

 

Work has taken place with several communities i.e. Downley, Iver and Stoke Hammond to look at setting up a community car scheme and to look at specific needs and identify if the Community Car scheme is right for them.

 

Work is taken place in partnership with Buckinghamshire Community Foundation to provide information and advice about the Community Transport Challenge Fund i.e. how to apply for funding and what the funding covers.

 

During the update the following questions were asked.

 

What is your view on why applications for the Community Transport Challenge Fund have been slow in coming forward? Applications could be slow in coming forward due to being advised that £5000 is the minimum amount that can be applied for. If an individual is looking to replace a vehicle, there are some other schemes available but they only 50% of the replacement cost can be applied for.  Match funding would have to be sought elsewhere. 

 

Who set the parameters for the Community Transport Challenge Fund?  The parameters were set following discussions between Community Impact Bucks, the Community Foundation and Bucks County Council. There have been discussions about the flexibility of the parameters.

 

What is the reason for the decline in the number of calls received by the Community Transport Hub? The pilot was started and initially concentrated on the Chiltern area which is represented by the high number of calls at the outset (diagram on page 47 of the report).  Most of the people who telephone the Hub are signposted to community transport schemes.  A relationship with the transport provider is build up over a period of time and there is no longer the need to call the Transport Hub.  Work needs to be done to on second phase of publicity to stimulate demand.

 

Since May 2013 there have been less than 25 calls per month to the Community Hub.  If the service is commissioned until April 2014, should it not be assured that the full benefit of the Hub is being received before then? Tentative discussions have taken place with the NHS and Bucks County Council. In-house work needs to take place to assess what the hub currently looks like and how it could be expanded i.e. the inclusion of other transport schemes.

 

What measures are in place to determine if the Community Transport Hub has been successful, what could be done to expand the work of the Community Hub to other areas and how could this be measured? Some of the individuals who telephone the Community Transport Hub are quite vulnerable.  They can be signposted to a potential transport solution; however they may be unable to deal with the booking process. Staff at the Community Transport Hub could book transport with the Community Transport providers.  Bookings are not done as a matter of course as this point in time.  The Community Transport Hub is a signposting service. It was not designed to be more.  The Hub could also become a point of contact/resource for transport in general. Work to scope out this possibility would need to be done.

 

Is there a single point of contact for the booking service across the county?  Yes there is a single point of contact for the Community Transport Hub in the form of a free phone telephone number - 0800 085 8480.

 

The majority of the contacts come from the Chiltern area.  What is the age profile of the contacts i.e. retirement age? The majority of the contacts are from those who are retirement age. On a purely anecdotal basis calls are also received from individuals who have suffered a life transforming incident and are no longer able to drive or are unable to get to an appointment as they previously relied on a family member.

 

Is there a gap in the way the County Council manages/funds not commercial transport schemes or could the service offered by the Community Transport Hub permanently meet this gap? Community transport in general can provide a solution to those needs. For most vulnerable adults using the bus is not an option.  They would use either Dial A Ride or a door to door car service. There are two aspects to community transport; what different types of transport are currently available and what could be available. This includes an understanding of scheduled transport (community bus/commercial bus) versus demand led transport solutions (i.e. Community Car Schemes/Dial A Ride).

 

How are the transport needs of Buckinghamshire residents understood?  In terms of being able to access the right type of vehicle for their needs i.e. an individual who has a physical disability and uses a wheelchair would need a suitable vehicle to accommodate their wheelchair.  Dial A Ride are very good at providing a solution.  Some community car schemes have volunteer drivers who have larger vehicles.  The vehicle can therefore be matched to the needs of the client.

 

Is the Community Transport Hub replicated in other counties and would it be beneficial to have a discussion with the counties on their arrangements? Rural Community Councils (RCCs) have a focus on supporting community transport. There are some potential lessons to be learnt from other counties but engagement has not taken place at the moment. Previously when we had a dedicated Rural Transport Officer sharing across RCCs, this happened regularly. This is a gap we are looking to explore over the next few months.

 

The Community Transport Hub is presently jointly funded by Buckinghamshire County Council and Buckinghamshire Healthcare Trust.  Does the contract and currently funding arrangements need to be looked at as three quarters of the calls received are health related?  The funding is currently a direct 50/50 split between the NHS and the County Council. 

 

Non medical users may not know about the existence of the Transport Hub as the Hub is mainly advertised in medical areas i.e. GP surgeries and hospitals.

 

Are there elements of the Bucks population that are not particularly well served by buses and don’t really understand community transport that we need to be reaching out to? Mrs Sarchet explained that from a Prevention Matters point of view there is a cohort of vulnerable adults who cannot access some of the community transport, for example, because they have mental health issues or learning disabilities. There is the issue of how these groups are supported to help them to stay active and connected. The existing schemes are predominantly for medical appointments and many are resistant to opening up to take people to lunch clubs or other social activities. This would be an area to address when the contract is being renegotiated.

 

The Prevention Matters agenda is a demand management system around reducing the need for health and social care services by keeping people social and physically active in their communities. There are two elements to this; Community Practice Workers who hold 1:1 sessions with individuals who have been referred into the system to identify their needs and refer them to activities that would help them address those needs. Part of the role of the Community Links Officers Team is to work with voluntary community organisations to identify volunteering opportunities and needs, and to carry out assessments of the community and voluntary sector organisations for future sustainability. Data emerging from the Community Practice Workers shows whilst there is still good capacity in many social activities available across the county, things such as the price of the activity and community transport are putting people off attending. This is still a struggle even where there are bus services. For example, there is the Harlequin bus system in the south of the county which picks people up and takes them to a local shopping centre but the frail, elderly can’t cope with this.  They need something different.

 

One immediate priority is around befriending.  A co-design workshop looking at community transport is taking place in April to try and bring providers and stakeholders together. There has been some mapping of community car schemes but it has been quite interesting to note how difficult it is to find people who have the information and then encourage them to share that information.  The Community Links Officers have identified around 1800 assets and activities so far across the county.  However trying to overlay this with information about where the commercial transport and community transport to identify gaps and opportunities for future work is on ongoing challenge. Members were invited to attend the co-design workshop in June 2014.  The date of the workshop is to be confirmed.

Action: Angie Sarchet

 

Community Links Officers recently carried out some work in Buckingham with AVDC to hold an Aging Well Workshop.  Community transport is one of the biggest issues that emerged from the workshop.  Work is taking place to set up and support an action group to look at the development of community transport. One of the challenges around developing community transport schemes is the need for a group of committed and enthusiastic volunteers. A voluntary community car scheme set up by the Winslow Big Society Group has been running for two years and is a tribute to the work of those volunteers. 12 volunteer drivers were recruited recently as a result of the team working between AVDC and BCC.

 

The Chairman said the Prevention Matters programme could be a role for some Local Area Forums to take forward.

 

The current contractual arrangements for the funding of the Community Transport Hub end in May.  Have negotiations for a new contract started?  There needs to reassurance the costs are being looked into and the County Council is not covering NHS costs. Conversations have taken place with NHS Buckinghamshire. They are supportive of the hub in what it does but there is the need for them to look at where it is funded.  Community Impact Bucks have asked to put proposals and ideas together. The NHS would then signpost Community Impact Bucks to the most appropriate source of funding i.e. a Charitable Trust.

 

There is now democratic overview of the NHS through the County Council County. Should the funding issue not be addressed via the scrutiny process with the County Council rather than by an external body? The Policy Officer explained that a piece of work looking at community transport is currently taking place in the NHS and Health arena via Healthwatch. The issue is trying to bring these pieces of work together and addressing the expansion to other activities such as luncheon clubs etc.

 

The concern is there are lots of small pieces of work taking place but the issue of community transport is not been addressed as a whole.

 

There is also the perception of local taxis seeing the Community Transport Hub as a threat to their livelihood.  Hampshire has put a contract in place for a shared taxi scheme.  It would be useful to look at the arrangement and the learning from this.

 

The Risborough Area Community Bus has been running for 4 years. The service has approximately 30 volunteers and is used by approximately 400 passengers per week.  93% of the passengers use a bus pass. The reimbursement per mile from the County Council is being reduced; the service is therefore becoming dependent on donations. Andrew Clarke, PT Contract Manager explained that the County Council provides funding on a per passenger basis which is agreed with bus providers. The size of the pot for this payment has broadly increased by 10% per year over the last three years. Payment is made on a per trip basis based on the average fare charged.  The amount agreed for 2014/15 is 9.5% up on the 13/14 pot size. Reimbursements rates are going up but this may not entirely equate to number of miles the bus does.

 

What is the maximum amount of funding that can be applied for from the Community Transport Fund? Can the Leader also be addressed and asked for funds? The maximum amount of funding is £20,000.  The question about the Leader can be taken away.

Action: Paul O’Hare

 

Would it be possible for the provision of community transport to take place in collaboration with care homes as many homes have a mini bus which does not go anywhere for a large proportion of the day. The possibility of collaborative working with care homes is one area which is still to be looked at. Also believe other minibus same and could be used to transport different communities.  Potential piece of work to establish the availability of other types of transport i.e. minibuses

 

A piece of work looking at the use of minibuses is currently taking place in Buckinghamshire.  The difficult part is the licenses etc. The Transport Hub has been promoted via GP Surgeries and Hospitals i.e. free fridge magnets which have details of the Hub.  There is some cross promotion in terms of some callers have also advised that they have been referred to the Transport Hub by their GP. Calls are also received directly from GP surgeries looking for transport for some of their patients.  There needs to be further thought about reaching those who are not in using GP and Hospital services and extra promotion.

 

What relationship does the Transport Hub have with the Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs)? The CCGs would be aware of the Hub at the outset.  The publicity would have been quite extensive. The previous Community Transport Officer gave some presentations to a number of different organisations and groups but it not clear whether this included CCGs.

 

The Chairman explained that when the Environment, Transport and Localities Select Committee initiated their review of public transport in July 2013, the review was about the bigger picture of the accessibility of public transport in Buckinghamshire in general and who would need to use public transport, how public transport looks now and investigate how it would look into 5-10 years.  From the report received in July, public transport has yet to be investigated.  Community transport is a local service and that the potential for how the role of community transport could change or grow to address the gaps in public transport needs has not been looked into as yet.

 

Mr O’Hare said if transport in the overall sense is being looked at and the aim is to try and get a sense of where Community Transport schemes can plug some of the gaps, it is about understanding individual transport requirements and building a picture of what would be the most ideal method of transport and the journey would be for that person and whether Community Transport could plug the gaps.  There could be the need to look at those telephoning the Hub and carrying out an assessment of the transport needs for those individuals.

 

Ms Sarchet advised that the Local Area Forums in South West Chilterns and Marlow have identified local transport as a priority and have set up a working group.  Questionnaires have taken place through various parishes and different groups which elderly people attend to ask them their transport needs.

 

An urgent update is needed on the contract in terms of negotiations and financial decisions. Clarification is also needed of funding streams, what the Transport Hub is achieving and is value for money being received.

Action: Paul O’Hare/Commissioning, Bucks County Council

 

The following was agreed;

·         The Committee would consider Community Transport as part of the wider review of public transport

·         A Working Group would be formed to develop the scope of the review of Public transport