Asylum: end of the consultation

I have posted many times on the issue of this year’s large scale arrivals of Unaccompanied Asylum Seeking Children (UASC) and Kent County Council’s response. On 17 August, with more than 600 UASC in our care, social work caseloads at unacceptably high levels and our reception centres full, Kent County Council confirmed that we were no longer able to fulfil our duties and collect further new arrivals from the Port. This was my decision as Leader of the Council, on the advice of our Director of Children’s Services.

Since that time, numbers of UASC in our care have reduced (though still far above what government legislation and guidance would regard as acceptable) as the Home Office, working with other groups such as local government organisations  and the Regional Migration Partnerships, has placed many young people with other local authorities.

Over the summer, the Home Office has also consulted on a relaunch of a reformed National Transfer Scheme (NTS), the system introduced as part of the 2016 Immigration Act following the crisis of 2015, to achieve a more balanced and equitable distribution of UASC in local authorities across the country. The NTS worked relatively well initially, but ran out of steam by 2018 as local authorities, conscious of the costs and feeling under pressure in their children’s services, became increasingly unwilling to take UASC young people. The consultation proposes a regional rota system for taking UASC and - importantly - consults on the possibility of making the system mandatory. For KCC, this is of great importance; our biggest concern is that there should be no repeat of what happened (and did not happen) after 2015. This was the central argument of my letter to the Home Secretary, Priti Patel, in May, and the County Council has been arguing for a revived and strengthened NTS for a number of years. The consultation closes on Wednesday, and there is every indication that the outcome is genuinely open. I have been encouraged by something of a shift in opinion in the local government sector towards mandation.

I had the chance to discuss many of these issues when I gave evidence earlier in September to the parliamentary Home Affairs Select Committee (picture). In the course of this, MPs from different parties gave warm tributes to the work of our social work teams in responding to the UASC issue. You can find a recording of the evidence session here.  

Kent Test: plans and preparations

On Monday the KCC Cabinet received a report on the experience so far of the return to school; you can find the report here. The webcast of the meeting can be found here, with the item on return to school starting at around 46:30 minutes in to the meeting.

One of the many issues arising from this year’s unique circumstances has been how this year’s Kent Test will be conducted. As previously reported, the Council set out our plans for the Test in the summer, with a delayed date of 15 October. However, the continuing impact of COVID-19 on schools, with some students having to self-isolate, has raised further questions as to how the Test should be managed under these circumstances. 

This week KCC sent advice to schools regarding the overall approach:

• Any child exhibiting Covid symptoms, or partway through a period of self isolation, will not take the test on the prescribed day

• If an individual child (or a small number of children) is unable to attend due to Covid, The remainder of the registrants will take the test and the child(ren) will be given an opportunity to sit it on their return

• If a class within a year group cannot sit the test, the same approach applies

• If the full year group cannot sit the test, they will do so on their return

• Schools have been advised to allow children (where possible) to settle back in before taking the Test, but not to delay too long as another period of isolation could be required. In particular, schools have been advised to contact KCC to help them apply variations appropriate to their individual circumstances

The County Council will continue to apply this approach of setting a pragmatic general framework while working with schools to take account of individual and local circumstances as we approach the Test.

Changes and additions to Go Coach routes

Following the first few days of return to school, Go Coach (in discussion with KCC public transport team) is making a number of changes to its services: 

• Service T3 is split into two services.  The T3A, operated by Go Coach will operate Knockholt, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green, Riverhead Tesco, then express to Tonbridge Schools.  T3B, operated  by Access Travel will operate   Riverhead Tesco, Sevenoaks, River Hill, Hildenborough / Loop, Tonbridge, Tonbridge Schools.  Timings from each location will be as per the service T3
• Service S32 will operate  St Pauls Cray, Cray Avenue, Spur Road, Sevenoaks Road, Warren Road, The Highway, then express to Knole Academy (as per current timings)
• Service S33, a new service, will operate  Chelsfield Station, Windsor Drive, Green Street Green, Pratts Bottom, Badgers Mount, Halstead, Knockholt Pound, Dunton Green and Knole Academy.  Times will be the same as the S32
• Service S14, a new service, will operate Swanley, Farningham, Eynsford, Otford, Telston Lane, Trinity/ Weald of Kent and Knole Academy. The S14 will leave Swanley garage at 07:50 and then follow the S10, 12 and 13 down the valley, diverting off to Telston Lane to cover part of the S2 route before arriving at Trinity/ Weald of Kent at 08:30 and Knole Academy at 08:30
• The current TW10 will operate  Wrotham Heath, Platt, then express to  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• The current TW11 will operate  Wrotham, Borough Green, then express  to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road). Times will be the same as now
• New route, TW12 will operate Ightham, Plaxtol, Shipbourne, then express to Cross Keys, Tunbridge Wells (St Johns Road).  Times will be the same as now

These changes are to improve capacity on a number of services, improve journey times and convert some duplicates to services, making it easier to understand. They respond to the strong demand seen on these routes and are a clear sign of the willingness of the operator, working with KCC, to make speedy changes. KCC Public Transport will continue to monitor similar pressures across the county in the coming week.