See answers to previous information requests

For question 1-3 please provide data for each of the last three completed financial years (2023/24–2025/26), broken down into: SEND, PRU & Mainstream. (If 2025/26 is not available please provide 2022/23 - 2024/25). Where the requested SEND / PRU / Mainstream breakdown is not held, please provide the total figure in the format held and briefly state the basis used.

1. The total gross spend on home-to-school transport.
See attached file.

2. The total number of pupils transported.
See attached file.

3. The total number of transport routes operated. (If routes are not categorised, please provide a total route count with clarification.)
See attached file.

4. Procurement Route
Please state the primary procurement route(s) used (e.g. DPS, framework, open tender) and, where held, the approximate proportion of spend by route.
All routes DPS with vehicle Lots.

5. Contract Register / Award Structure
Please provide one of the following:
• A link to your public contract register covering home-to-school transport, or
• Confirmation that contracts are awarded at individual route level (e.g. via DPS) and are not held as a single consolidated contract.
We don’t have public contracts register, it is held at a national level, and all our routes are listed on it: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder

All routes are tendered via a call-off contract on DPS. Some Call-off contracts will include more than one route if this is felt appropriate and vehicle sizes and type fall into the same Lot.

6. Digital Systems - Please list the main systems used for home-to-school transport, for example:
• Procurement / tendering (e.g. In-tend): ProActis (ProContract)
• Route planning (e.g. QRoutes, Trapeze): QRoutes
• Operations / case management / invoicing (e.g. MRI): Routewise / Excel / BWO
• Compliance or driver checks (e.g. in-house compliance modules, DBS checking systems, licensing or badge management systems): Operator has to provide the information at time of award and then if any changes. Excel spreadsheet sent to each supplier monthly for confirmation. Revised paperwork required on expiry or annually depending on check.

7. Staffing - Please provide the total number of council staff involved in the end-to-end delivery of the home-to-school transport service, together with the aggregated annual salary cost for those staff. This should include, where applicable, staff involved in:
• commissioning: 2
• procurement: Same 2 as above +1
• route planning: Same 2 as commissioning
• service management: 1, but also covers public transport, community transport and volunteer transport
• administration: 0, see operational delivery
• client transport / licensing: 0
• compliance: same 2 as above
• operational delivery: 2 (customer services / HTST assessments, plus adult social care)

And separately:
• in-house drivers: 0
• in-house passenger assistants / escorts: 0

8. Winning Bid Prices (Aggregated) - For the last three completed financial years, please provide one of the following, whichever is most readily available:
• Average winning day rate for home-to-school transport routes
• Minimum and maximum winning day rate, or
• Winning day-rate bandings (e.g. £50–£75, £75–£100, £100–£125, etc.)
We don’t actively record this information, please see: https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
We have provided highest, median ad lowest annual route costs for each year instead.

9. Award Method - please confirm:
• Whether routes are typically awarded to the lowest priced compliant bid
DPS Lots 1 to 8 are price only, Lots 9 and 10 are price / quality, which varies depending on procurement strategy and outcome from procurement board. Note: Lots 9 and 10 are school coaches and public transport, respectively.

• Whether other factors are routinely applied (e.g. quality weighting).
No.

10. Route Level Data - Please provide the following fields in an Excel, CSV or any other structured format.
• Route reference or number: See https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
• Contract start date: See https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
• Contract end date: See https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
• Winning bid price (day rate or equivalent): See https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
• Route mileage: We don't record this.
• Vehicle type (high-level category if held i.e 4-8 Seater, WAV, Minibus, Bus etc.): See attached file, and https://www.gov.uk/contracts-finder
• Whether a passenger assistant is required (Y/N): We don't have a reporting system able to provide against the route.
• Number of passengers (if held): We don't have a reporting system able to provide against the route.

We are not requesting any commercially sensitive details.

11. Delivery Model - At a high level, please confirm whether routes are typically delivered by:
• Operators employing drivers: Yes
• Self-employed drivers contracting directly: No
• A mix of both: No