Cardiff Council. School Transport Project 10. Vehicle Utilisation. End of Project Report

Transcription

1 Cardiff Council School Transport Project 10 Vehicle Utilisation End of Project Report March 2011

2 Vehicle Utilisation Project Contents Introduction Page 3 Background, Aims and Objectives Page 3 Current situation in Cardiff Council School Transport Aims of the Project Project Methodology and Development Project Timeline Page 4 Setting up the Project Page 5 (Home to School, Day Care, Passenger Transport etc) Key Issues and Recommendations Creating a Passenger Transport Team Page 7 Central Transport Service Page 8 Optimising Vehicle Capacities (Mapping Systems Development) Page 9 Example of Mapping System Screen Set up Page 10 Improved Procurement System (Framework Contract Allocation System) Page 12 Example of Framework Contract Allocation System Page 12 Double Tripping School Vehicles Page 14 Hire for Vehicles requiring a driver Page 16 Project Outcomes and Benefits Where is the project now Page 17 Benefits of Mapping System Development Page 17 Benefits of Framework Contract Allocation System Page 18 Future Development Page 19 Expand into other areas of the Council & Primary Care Trusts Look at links with Community Transport Services New Database required to Manage Passenger Transport Develop a Mapping System linked to a Vehicle Tracking Systems Create New Policies for Social Transport Adult & Children Services Executive Summary Page 19 Appendices Page 20 2

3 STP/10 Vehicle Utilization Project Introduction The project is designed to establish the practical feasibility of reducing Cardiff Council transport costs and administrative efficiencies to the by: 1. Coordinating the procurement of School, Children s Social Care and Adult Social Care transport. 2. Setting up a One Stop Shop team to administer transport requests and queries, reducing this responsibility for school or other users. 3. Providing a clear and practical demonstration that coordinating transport provision provides financial benefits without undermining service quality, as a catalyst for future change. Background 1. The position of passenger transport across the Council was fragment at the start of the project, with front line service departments acting independently in the procurement and management of the transport used. 2. Individual departments were tendering independently, wasting administration time and undermining the Councils buying power. This process was also impacting on the suppliers as largely the same group of external contractors were completing numerous tenders on an annual basis, diverting their resources from training and improving the quality of service provided. 3. In addition to these the planning of the actual transport was being undertaken independently and no thought was being given to vehicle utilization or associated benefits such as improved service and training opportunities. Aims The aims of the project were to:- 1. Investigate areas to optimise the use of vehicles currently being used. 2. To investigate ways to link the vehicles used so that an individual contract is allocated rather than having multiple contracts with the same contractor. The Project Objective The project was designed to establish the practical feasibility of reducing Council transport costs and administrative efficiencies by: 1. Coordinating the procurement of School, Children s Social Care and Adult Social Care transport. 2. Setting up a One Stop Shop team to administer transport requests and queries, reducing this responsibility for school or other users. 3. Providing a clear and practical demonstration that coordinating transport provision provides financial benefits without undermining service quality, as a catalyst for future change. 3

4 Project Methodology and Development Project Timeline Item Year: Mth: M A M J J y A S O N D J F M A M J J y A S O N D J F M A Finalise scope & establish project team Confirm scope and program with key stakeholders Confirm schools participating Confirm other council agencies participating Finalise operational plan for pilot Implement plan for 2009 school year Ongoing operation and monitoring Assessment and report preparation 4

5 Setting up the Project The majority of the Councils spend on Passenger Transport relates to Home to School which is currently made up of Mainstream Statutory School Transport, Special Educational Needs Transport, and Non Statutory School Transport. There are additional relatively smaller areas of transport provision provided by the Council which covers Adult Day Care Transport, Disabled Adult Learners Transport (DART), Looked After Childrens Transport, Vocational Training surrounding Extended Opportunities Transport and one off requests for the hire of vehicles that require qualified drivers for day trips. The following areas were identified: Passenger Transport: Description: Directorate: Mainstream & Special Educational Needs (SEN) Education Transport Social Care Vocational Learning Community Education Community Transport Supported Buses Leisure Services General Transport Ad-hoc Taxi Use The transport of mainstream & SEN children to and from school using internal fleet supplemented by bus, minibus, specially adapted vehicles and taxis contracts. Also the provision of drivers and passenger assistants. Administration of Transport Passport to Travel scheme The transport of Clients to day care centres and other venues using internal fleet and external taxi contracts. Also the provision of drivers and passenger assistants. Use of taxis and hired minibuses to transport children to vocational courses. DART (Disabled Adult Learners Transport) the transport of disabled learners who attend day courses at Community Education centres The provision of Ring-a-Ride and Dial-a-Bus services delivered by the Voluntary Emergency Services Transport (VEST) charity. The provision of mainstream school bus routes and other scheduled bus routes to help plug gaps in the commercial network through external contracts, along with the Park & Ride service. Small fleet of minibuses used to transport participants to and from a range of outdoor and leisure activities. NEETS (Not in Education Employment or Training) Small pockets of coach, minibus & taxi usage for a variety of uses such as transporting school cleaners or staff to & from theatres, and school day trips etc. Occasional use of taxis across all Council departments. Transport, Infrastructure & Waste. Schools & Lifelong Learning. Children Services & Adult Services Schools & Lifelong Learning. Schools & Lifelong Learning. Transport, Infrastructure & Waste. Transport, Infrastructure & Waste. Culture, Leisure & Parks Various Various 5

6 Breakdown of current Expenditure of this transport Passenger Transport (excluding fleet costs) Cost ( ) for 2008/9 Educational (including 6,424,277 Vocational Learning) Social Care (estimated) 963,573 Community Transport 208,828 Leisure Services (Estimated) 100,000 General Transport (not 41,528 including school trips) Ad-hoc taxi usage in other 13,545 areas Identifying current expenditure on transport by Children & Adult Services has been extremely difficult to identify as these costs have historically been included as part of the individual child s or adults care costs. Cardiff Council is currently in the process of identifying the current requirements, systems and processes in place regarding the provision of Children and Adult Services transport. This should be completed by July 2011 and all transport administration will be centralised into the passenger transport team by this date. The procurement and management of these functions is fragmented and undertaken individually by each service area. There is co-ordination within the School Transport Team but little in the social care areas or bin other departments. As a result tenders for external contracts are undertaken independently wasting administration time and reducing the Councils purchasing power. Funding Awarded for Project Integration of Transport Between Schools and with Transport in Other Children s and Adult s Services. Initial Set up cost ( ) Ongoing Annual cost ( ) Yr. 1 Yr. 2 Yr. 1 Yr. 2 Internal resource 14,500 14,500 Project Management 10,000 10,000 Laptop, phone Administration 1,500 1,500 Development of GIS mapping software 3,000 Total 3, ,250 26,250 55,500 6

7 Key issues and Recommendations Centralised Passenger Transport Team Therefore setting up a Passenger Transport Team based around the School Transport Team to co-ordinate the planning, procurement and administration of all passenger transport undertaken by the Council will enable routes to be optimised, streamline administration and remove the transport administration burden from front line professional staff. The funding for the project was used to appointment of a temporary clerical assistant initially based within the School Transport Team, this appointment freed up senior officer time within the team concentrate on the creation of a central Passenger Transport Team and to maximise vehicle utilisation. Centralising the all the Passenger Transport functions into one team is reducing the number of invoices processed as often although the same contractors are being used separate invoices were submitted to each department often in different formats and in some cases for each individual journey. These invoices are being standardised in the same format and included in with the main school transport invoices. This is saving time for the contractors completing and chasing the payments up as there is a single point of contact for them; as well as reducing the numbers of invoices processed by the Council and the time that this takes. This is because each route is allocated a contractor number which can be coded to the individual Council cost centre which is paying for the transport. The process to centralise the transport functions began with interviews of staff involved in each service each to establish who is currently involved in arranging and planning transport in each area, how the transport provision is currently managed, administered and procured. From these interviews a list of all staff involved was input alongside data extracted from the Councils Personnel and Financial database into an establishment list see example below. This spreadsheet was used to track the changes and any savings made as the post and budgets of posts were centralised into the Passenger Transport Team. Post No Initials Designation Grade FTE% Salary On-Cost Total Proposed Change* New Designation Grade Revised Salary O/Costs Total 10/11. Diff 10/11 SCHOOL TRANSPORT NON STATUTORY SCHOOL TRANSPORT ADULT SERVICES CHILDREN SERVICES 7

8 16-19 TRANSPORT DART Each area of work is evaluated separately and then centralised on a phased basis into the new Passenger Transport Team, in-order that each section can be integrated smoothly without over loading the Passenger Transport Team. This has been a slow process in-order that the correct structure can be established to undertake the additional work, new procedures & processes created in-order to cope with the increase demand on the team s resources and to ensure everything is in place to enable a seamless transition for the actual passengers being transported. Having the Passenger Transport team plan all transport is also helping the Council establish new policies where there were previously no policies in place and left to individual manager s discretion. This assists a consistent approach ensuring that resources are used correctly, more consistently and reducing the options of leaving the Council open to challenge for not being consistent. In addition to these benefits it also ensures that transport is only provided where necessary and reduces the possibility of duplication of transport provided. Central Transport Service In addition to creating a Passenger Transport Team to co-ordinate all Passenger Transport, Cardiff have also established a Central Transport Service (CTS) to coordinate all Council vehicle compliance re maintenance and driver compliance. The CTS has also centralised the procurement of all Council vehicles driver training. Another function of the CTS is to look at the utilisation of all Council vehicles and as a result the installing tracking devices on all vehicles so that usage can be monitored and efficiencies identified. Cardiff Council is also looking into creating a Centralised system to co-ordinate the delivery of internal mail and other items that are transported between different Council buildings and schools. At present there is an enormous amount of wasted staff time and resources in the transportation of items on a daily basis with vehicles often crossing each other or passing offices where information is waiting to be collected. The Schools Service currently have a weekly collection/transfer of internal mail and the school caretakers are used to drop off and pick up the information from a central point. Cardiff s Meals on Wheels Service is another area that the Council are looking into improve to see if the current routes can be optimised and routing improved. In addition to the routing information a new IT package that can improve the information flow between the meals on wheels clients and the kitchens so that meals can be prepared and order direct via the drivers and sent straight through to the kitchens. The current mapping system can be used to plot and optimise the daily routes although an improved specifically design Passenger Transport database would be more flexible to adapt to the clients needs and improve record keeping. A Demand Responsive Transport Management System would improve the communication and enable the Council to tweak the delivery rounds on a daily basis via a sat navs link to the vehicles. In addition trackers on the vehicles will also help improve routes and communications as the centre team will be able to field any calls as to how long a deliver may take to arrive. 8

9 As part of discussions with Children Services some smaller issues have come to light whereby transport is provided for young carers to attend a Young Carers Youth club which gives these children a break from their Caring roles at home. Using the Passenger Transport Team to plan & co-ordinate the pick ups for this transport and also to source vehicles and drivers, the Council has been able to utilised internal fleet that is sat idle when this transport is required. This has enabled 2 minibuses to be provided for the cost that Children Services were previously paying for 1 minibus. The knock on effects to this are that the journey times for the young carers has reduced and there are now more spaces allowing more Carers to attend. A long term aim of the Central Transport Service is to improve the management and usage of the School minibus fleet. The CTS are currently undertaking an audit of all vehicles owned by the Schools to make sure that they are all included on the Councils insurance policy and that our fleet data is accurate. Trackers are also being fitted to the vehicles as part of the audit so that data can be gathered on the usage of the vehicles. Once this data has been gathered it can be analysed to see how these vehicles can be optimised and a pool of vehicles provided that groups of schools can access. This will reduce the running costs for the schools along with enabling the CTS to lease newer vehicles which will improve the quality, running costs and reduce the maintenance costs. The audit is also looking into the record keeping of the schools to ensure that the appropriate vehicle and driver records are being maintained correctly. Optimising Vehicle Capacities Mapping Systems Development Cardiff Council have developed a computerised mapping system using MapInfo and Route Finder packages linked to a database which contained all the pupil information (Capita One/EMS Transport Module) initially to optimise mainstream school transport and recently to plan SEN Transport. The mapping system was developed to help plan SEN school transport, in-order to help introduce a new Framework Contract Allocation System based on mileage rates for different size vehicles. In addition to optimising the SEN transport the Council gained from a number of other benefits as a result of developing the mapping system to plan the SEN transport. Cardiff Council planned to develop this mapping system further to plan Adult and Children Services Transport, unfortunately the package used was bought out by Capita and we have been unable to make any further developments as Capita are concentrating on developing a new Transport module for it s database. As a result the Council are currently exploring other options with regard to what other databases are available to help plan and co-ordinate all the Passenger Transport Team requirements and also what mapping systems are available, that can either meet the Councils requirements or be developed to meet them. These developments include the ability to plan and track vehicle movements to co-ordinate refuge vehicles, street cleansing vehicles, gritting, meals on wheels, courier services. The Council are looking for a system that has the ability to interface with a number of different packages, so that information can be pulled into the mapping system from a number of different packages, loaded onto a map to have the routes planned & optimised, the routes can then be uploaded onto sat nav s and 9

10 route maps produced, the system will also have the ability to track the vehicles once the routes have been put together to track driver compliance and ensure that the vehicles are being utilised fully. The Council are currently installing a Quartix vehicle tracking system on all it s fleet, this will enable the Council to report and monitor, driver compliance, re road speeds and driving speeds, which will identify any training needs, help introduce & encourage more efficient driving techniques. The trackers will also help the Council with insurance claims or claims of negligence, as the Council will have more information of exactly what roads have been gritted when they were gritted and how much grit was spread. The council are looking at developing the system so that it can provide reports or information for other service uses such as refuge collection, meals on wheels and street cleansing. Example of Mapping System Screen Set up To use the mapping system, once the software is installed on PC s is extremely user friendly, as it is based on selecting information mainly from menus. Users click the SENVM icon on their desk top which, loads the mapping system and the following menu appears, which has a number of options that the user can select Screen shot of Capita SENVM menu system Once the type and name of the school is selected the system loads and displays all the information as per the example below. 10

11 Screen shot of Capita SENVM mapping system The window on the left hand side of the screen indicates where the pupils live and the type of special educational needs that they have, below is a legend listing the types of SEN displayed. The window on the right hand side of the screen again indicates where pupils live but this time they are colour coded in relation to the route number that they are allocated too. Again there is a legend listing the route numbers displayed, the number of pupils on each route and the colour allocated to the route on the map. Please note both windows are linked and as you zoom in or out of 1 window the other window automatically re-sizes itself so that the same information is displayed. Also the more that you zoom in on an area the more detailed the map becomes which includes aerial photographs. This screen demonstrates the system calculating the shortest driving distance and route taken to pick up all the pupils allocated to a route. 11

12 The distance assessed is then used in conjunction with the Framework Contract Allocation system to allocate the contract or to amend the contract price/rate if a pupil is added or removed from the route. Improved Procurement System Framework Contract Allocation System The Council has also introduced a Framework contract allocation system (see appendix 1 for a copy of Cardiff Council s Framework Contract) which changed the way that we tendered from a route by route basis to a mileage rate. This has reduced the number of times that the Council tenders for School and SEN contracts from an annual basis for taxis to once every 4 years (4 years in line with EU Framework regulations). It had also in conjunction with the mapping system enabled the Council to identify the most appropriate vehicle to be used for each contract. The Framework Allocation System is basically a Spreadsheet and is the intellectual property of Northgate Kendric Ash. Therefore the screen shots below only indicate the basic information held to help provide an idea of what the system is capable of being used for. Example of Framework Contract Allocation System screen set up This is the main screen set up used when allocating contracts. A number of tabs are hidden and the panes frozen so that the main information required is available at a glance to he user. The user simple filters the number of seats required, scrolls to the number of miles for a return journey that the mapping system has calculated. They then click the filter on the number of miles e.g 12 miles and select sort ascending, all the records selected will be re-ordered with the cheapest price at the top. The user can then quickly scroll up and down the results to check the quality score with the price so that the most appropriate contractor is offered the contract. If the contractor does not want the contract you just move to the next most appropriate and so on. If you add or take a pupil off a contract or if the mileage changes as a result of a pupil moving address the child, the user re-calculates the new distance using the mapping system and then applies the new mileage rate obtained from the Framework spreadsheet. 12

13 Example of vehicle information held on Framework Quality Information held on Spreadsheet including Training and additional vehicle information. Screen shot from Framework Spreadsheet of the Tab used to record savings 13

14 As all the information is stored on the spreadsheet it is easy to access and select the contractors with either the appropriate type of driver/escort training or the vehicle which have the appropriate specifications such as CCTV or wheelchair accessible. The staff time saved from the implementation of the Framework contract allocation system and the development of the mapping system has enabled Cardiff Council to centralise other passenger transport administration around the School Transport Team. The system has also been used to allocate DART transport contracts as they have similar requirements, which has saved time tendering and enable the Council centralise the co-ordination of planning of these contracts. The Passenger Transport Team are currently in the process of linking some of the DART & SEN contracts as they can be run one after each other without mixing the passengers, which will reduce the costs of the contracts. Double Tripping One of the main objectives of this project was to look into the option of double tripping school buses. The following information was obtained: A list of all the routes contracted, details of the routes taken and the stop times were compiled along with start and finish times for every school served. From this information a list of all possible routes that looked as if they could be double tripped were identified. Also from the above list a number of schools were identified on the basis of the existing gaps between the start times and finish times that were already in place as a starting point to look at double tripping. A couple of contractors were also contacted and involved in discussions to talk through and identify options for which bus serves to double trip. From the outset of this process it became clear that there needed to be a minimum gap of 45 minutes between dropping children off at 1 school, and then go onto picking up pupils for the second school in-order for them to arrive at that school on time. Some trails were undertaken where vehicles ran the routes empty to see what kind of running times were involved. 14

15 The option of mixing pupils from different schools was also considered, but was discounted due to the pupil behaviour issues that could arise. SEN transport routes are currently being investigated to see which routes could be linked together, although in the majority of cases pupils from different schools won t be mixed on the routes unless risk assessments indicate that they can be mixed. Issued identified It became clear that due to the congestion in different parts of the city even a 45 minute gap between the starting times of the schools was insufficient. The discussions and trail runs of the empty buses services also highlighted the difficulties that linking the routes in the afternoon would create. Although some routes fitted together in the morning, in the afternoon linking the same routes caused more problems as the vehicles were in completely the wrong position when they had dropped off all the children from the first school to get back into position to pick up the pupils for the second school. Different vehicles and possibly contractors would need to be contracted to undertake the morning runs to the afternoon, which would create confusion for pupils and schools. Using different contractors and buses in the morning and afternoon although savings would be possible, these savings would not halve the costs, as contractors would still have to provide the same number of vehicles. The finishing times gaps between the schools in the afternoon were also much closure together and did not help to double trip the vehicles. Changing the school start and finish times was also considered but initially discount as an option due to the length of time that this takes to complete all the consultation. Alternative Options Cardiff are therefore currently exploring other options of linking contracts together by working with contractors by entering into discussions to see if contractors can reduce there contract rates by linking school contracts with private commercial contracts that they have. It is hoped that by working together the Council will reduce the costs of some of there contracts and this will also help the contractors make better use of there vehicles. Cardiff are also looking into the options of double tripping SEN contracts as these often involve much shorter journey times. A couple of schools were approached a couple of years ago with the view to picking up one school before going onto pick up the second school. Unfortunately one of these schools has recently been relocated to the opposite side of the city which has made this option impossible to link together. However with the development of the SENVM mapping system the Passenger Transport Team are currently looking into options of linking other SEN school contractors. The culture now established within the Passenger Transport Team is one of automatically looking at all contracts to see what contracts can be linked to reduce the costs. Hire for Vehicles requiring a driver 15

16 The Passenger Transport Team have set up a new service available to all schools and service areas within the Council to obtain quotes for hiring taxis, minibuses, specially adapted vehicles and coaches using the contractors on the Councils approved supplier list. This service has been welcomed by the schools as it saves them time sourcing contractors & quotes, although in the majority of cases they tended to use the same operator each time. The schools using the service have also seen and reported a significant saving on the rates that they were paying to the rate that we are charging of approximately 30%. This includes a 10% administration charge for using the Passenger Transport Team. Other service areas have also seen the benefit of using the Passenger Transport Team to obtain quotes for hiring vehicles for different events, again it saves them time and also again they have reported that the rates we charge are 50% less than they were previously paying. A standard form was created and an has been circulated to all schools and service areas notifying them of this service. There is also a link on the Council s intranet explaining how the system works, a link to the hire form and a link to the Passenger Transport Team address. This additional work load was easily integrated into the Passenger Transport Teams working practice and the responsibility has been allocated to the Route Optimisation post to co-ordinate obtaining the quotes and bookings for the schools. The bookings are being recorded on the Capita One/EMS Transport module database, which all team members can access and take any queries on as they arise. Discussions on whether or not to go out to tender to obtain rates for all the destinations that schools attend on school trips took place, but it was decided that each hire would be ed out to all the contractors on the approved supplier list as the Passenger Transport team were achieving better rates via the s. This is because contractors who have vehicles sat in their yards/depots will provide a more competitive rate in-order to get some income for the vehicle, rather than contractors submitting specific rates in a tender which would tie the Council into paying the flat rates. This involved little outlay and provides an extra income stream for the Passenger Transport Team. 16

17 Project Outcomes and Benefits In-order to maximise the saving opportunities a holistic view of all Transport undertaking within each authority needs to be undertaken, as well as the investment in appropriate software systems the manage the data and plan all the journeys involved. Having a Centralised Transport Service to manage all the transport related activities is enabling the Council to maximise economies of scales, ensure that other professionals are able to concentrate on their jobs rather than getting involved with transport issues. This is also improving specialist knowledge and making the Council more compliant in all transport areas. Where is the project now The Project was late starting and it should be noted that this project is on-going due to the length of time that it takes to pull each part of transport into a central team. The next stage is to centralise Children and Adult Services Transport, along with a full Category Management Review of suppliers and clients. Cardiff has successfully implemented a New Procurement System which has supported the creation of a centralised Passenger Transport Team. Although a mapping system was developed there have recently been issues with the trying to get Capita to work with Cardiff to further develop the system for the new areas that the Passenger Transport Team is planning. It can still be used to plan SEN transport but some of the staff time savings initially anticipated will not now be realised, although it still vastly improves the planning process. The introduction of the new Tendering System and mapping system have enabled the Council to significantly reduce the Carbon Footprint involved with home to school transport. Benefits of Mapping System Development The amount of administration time that has been saved when planning the transport as changes can be made via the mapping system and written directly back to the database. Instead of having to be down twice as per the old system. The mapping system provides a visual aide to non transport professionals such as teachers and social workers who can now be involved in the actual planning process which improves the combination of pupils transported on each vehicle. Using the mapping system in conjunction with the Framework contract allocation system the appropriate size vehicle can be identified and procured, which helps reduce both cost and the overall mileage involved. Involving the Schools and Social workers in the planning of the contracts also helps them gain a better understanding of issues that Transport need to be made aware of and also makes them aware of the actual costs involved. This makes them more supportive and improves communications, which improves the quality and cost of the transport service provided. In addition to these there were a number of benefits that the Pupils, parents, contractors, schools and Council all gained from using the new contract allocation system which include: We were able to allocate the pupils onto fewer vehicles (approximately 40 less) which was achieved from a combination of better combinations of pupils on routes, from optimising them on the mapping system and as the majority of 17

18 licensed taxis have capacities of 6 & 7 seats, which was an advantage from previously using the unlicensed vehicles which mainly had capacities of 4 seats. From our discussions we were able to get the best combination of pupils on each route, have the shortest possible route for each pupil, hence reducing the amount of time that the pupils spent on transport, which made them less hyper when they arrived and more ready to learn. The average mileage for each route reduced from 14 to 12 miles return per day, the combined effect or the reduced number of vehicles and reduced mileage per vehicle has obviously reduces emissions by approximately 1200 miles per day and reduced congestion at school sites and on the roads in general. Benefits Framework Contract Allocation System There have been a number of benefits to changing to this system which include:- More transparent system of contract allocation. All team members can use the system to allocate contracts and also when dealing with changes to the contracts, as a result of the adding or taking pupils off various contracts, and changes to pupils address details. Previously all these kind of changes required senior officer input and approval, now individual officers can make the decisions, saving Senior Officer time and improving team morale. The Council can allocate contracts much earlier in the year and much easier throughout the year. The rates contained are provided by the contractor and not dictated by the Council and therefore the contractors can t complain at the rates for adding or taking passengers off routes as they are the ones who provided them. We only tender once every 4 years, which has saved the Council 5 months every year and saved the Contractors a large amount of work and time completing the tenders. This time can now be spent undertaking more spot checks and generally improving the quality of the service that we provide. The Council had previously been criticised by parents for changing the drivers every year on SEN contracts, the new system enabled the same driver to undertake the same contract for 4 years. This means that parents, pupils, schools, contractors and the drivers/escorts get to know each other much better and each year they are not faced with change as a lot of SEN pupils can t cope with change. Benefits of using SENVM mapping system along with the Framework Contract Allocation System The Council has made significant financial savings well over 1m using both systems together. Using both has reduced the number of vehicles used by 40 vehicles per day. Reduced the number of miles used by 1200 per day. Therefore significantly reducing the Carbon Emission involved with providing School Transport. Freed up Staff time to undertake extra duties 18

19 Future Development Cardiff Council has recently started a supplier review called Category Management to try to drive through and maximise any savings that are possible from working more closely with our contractors and clients. The Passenger Transport Team contractor s is one of the main areas that the Procurement Team are targeting to start this process. This review is aim to be completed within the next 6 months. Part of the Category Management review is to look at improving links with Community Transport Services to see if these can be better used to transport Adults to day centres or training courses. The review may also establish links with non emergency passenger transport that the Ambulance Service currently supply. Closer links between the Council, Health Authorities and the Ambulance service may help all involved utilise their fleets fully. The review will also investigate working collaboratively with neighbouring Councils to see what opportunities there are to help each other. The Category Management review will also look at all the current policies in place across the Council relating to Passenger Transport to ensure that they are up to date and relevant for the services being provided. It will also highlight areas where policies are required in order that services are correctly provided and budgeted for. A separate review of the current software packages being used will be undertaken, as Capita are introducing a new Transport package and depending on the functions and cost of the new module it may not fit our current and future requirements. A review to see what packages are currently available and the benefits that these could provide will assist the Council make decision of what package to go for. As previously reported the Council are looking into developing a mapping system that will link with all the packages used within the Council. A specification and business case will shortly be drawn up to of the requirements for the system required. Executive Summary Cardiff Council have benefitted from the introduction of a new Contract Allocation System used alongside a computerised geographical mapping system to plan SEN transport. The benefits from the developments have been numerous including significant cost savings now approaching 2m, they have also saved administration time which has enabled other services to be centralised free up other professionals to concentrate on their front line roles rather than being bogged down with transport issues. These savings can now be built upon and maintained with the creation of a Central Transport Service and Passenger Transport Team which will reduce the amount of duplication and waste of resources across the authority as a whole. It is essential that the systems and process are in place to administer each area before they are centralised. It is also essential that each area is centralised separately to allow enough time for the systems to bed in and in-order that any additional support is in place to integrate the transport seamlessly for the clients being transported. Although this project does not finish until 31 July 2011, the ethos of utilising and optimising transport resources are now embedded within the Passenger Transport Team and will be continued long after the end of the project as each opportunity to link contracts or resources is identified. 19

20 Appendices Cardiff Council Framework Contract 20