Leicester: Fight to save SEND school transport funding goes on
Parents of young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) in Leicester have again lobbied councillors in the city over funding for transport to schools and colleges.Leicester City Council's education scrutiny committee is considering ending the home-to-school transport funding for SEND youngsters, aged 16 or over.The authority does not have any statutory duty to provide this transport and says it receives no funding from central government to do so. Rajesh Ramachandran, from Rushey Mead, who has a daughter with autism and learning disabilities, is worried she will not be able to attend further education without continuing council support.
Mr Ramachandran's daughter currently attends a Leicester school but is due to start further education in Loughborough from September. Her father has a full-time job which takes him round the country and his wife is not well enough to transport her and provide the full-time support she needs at home.They told the BBC the twice-daily 22-mile trip would be too much for them to take on. Rajesh says taxi firms have quoted a price of £100 per trip for her to travel while accompanied.He said: "With three days a week at college, I would be spending £1,200 a week. That's absolutely exorbitant."He is now worried his daughter may miss out on further education altogether.
Decision delayed
Rachel Dixon, from Contact, a charity supporting parents with disabled children, said financial support for home-to-school transport for those aged 16 or over is a growing issue nationally, not just in Leicester.The council has said it must make changes to this transport support or face having to find £3.5m more next year.But a final decision on cutting the support has been delayed after parents got backing for a new option, which calls for feedback on a recent consultation to be taken into account and consideration of other means of student support.Parents have suggested the use of personal assistants to accompany young people on public transport, an approach they say is already undertaken by Leicestershire County Council.Officers and councillors will meet again at a later date to discuss next steps.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mail
3 hours ago
- Daily Mail
BBC scraps plans to show documentary about medics in Gaza after new bias concerns
The BBC has decided to scrap plans to show a documentary about medics in Gaza over concerns it 'risked creating a perception of partiality' of its coverage of the conflict. Gaza: Doctors Under Attack was commissioned by the corporation more than a year ago from an independent production company called Basement Films. However, its production was paused in April after an investigation was launched into the making of another controversial documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a War Zone. That programme was taken off the iPlayer earlier this year, and the corporation was forced to apologise after it was revealed that the documentary featured a 13-year-old narrator who is the son of a Hamas government minister and grandson of one of Hamas' s founding members. In the latest controversy over the BBC's coverage of the war, the broadcaster has confirmed discussions over the documentary showing the plight of medics in Gaza had 'reached the end of the road'. The corporation will now transfer ownership of the project to the independent production company that produced it. 'We wanted the doctors' voices to be heard,' the BBC said in a statement. 'Our aim was to find a way to air some of the material in our news programmes, in line with our impartiality standards, before the review was published. 'For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms.' But, the corporation added: 'Yesterday it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions. 'We have come to the conclusion that broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC. 'Impartiality is a core principle of BBC News. It is one of the reasons that we are the world's most trusted broadcaster. 'Therefore, we are transferring ownership of the film material to Basement Films.' It went on to say that since the pause in production of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, 'it has not undergone the BBC's final pre-broadcast sign-off processes' and 'any film broadcast will not be a BBC film'. Critics were also enraged by the Beeb's failure to disclose who the film's narrator was, leading former director of BBC Television Danny Cohen to say: 'The BBC appears to have given an hour of prime-time coverage to the son of a senior member of the Hamas terrorist group. 'Either they were not aware of the terrorist links because they did not carry out the most basic journalistic checks or the BBC did know and misled audiences about the family's deep involvement with terrorism.' The BBC documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was broadcast on BBC Two with the aim of showing a 'vivid and unflinching view of life' in the enclave Since the allegations were made, the BBC has apologised and added new text to the film which explains who Abdullah and his father are. In an email exchange via the BBC, Abdullah reportedly said he wanted to be part of the documentary, which was made by Hoyo Films, 'to explain the suffering that people here in Gaza witness with the language that the world understands, English.' He is said to have asked to be involved to help viewers learn about the situation on the ground without being 'blurred by misinformation'. The BBC documentary, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, was broadcast on February 17 on BBC Two with the aim of showing a 'vivid and unflinching view of life' in the strip. It was made by two producers based in London who remotely directed two cameramen on the ground over nine months. Independent investigative journalist David Collier claimed one of the child narrators, Abdullah, is the son of a Hamas government minister and grandson of one of Hamas's founding members. Using Facebook and publicly available data online, Mr Collier claimed the show's young star is the son of Gaza's deputy minister of agriculture Dr Ayman Al-Yazouri. This would mean his grandfather would be the Hamas founder Ibrahim al-Yazouri, who has previously been jailed by Egypt and Israel for involvement in proscribed groups. The Daily Mail has not been able to independently verify Mr Collier's claims. The BBC apologised for the inclusion of the documentary's young star, with a spokesperson for the corporation saying: 'Since the transmission of our documentary on Gaza, the BBC has become aware of the family connections of the film's narrator, a child called Abdullah. 'We've promised our audiences the highest standards of transparency, so it is only right that as a result of this new information, we add some more detail to the film before its retransmission. We apologise for the omission of that detail from the original film.' The BBC said the new text attached to the film: 'The narrator of this film is 13 year old Abdullah. His father has worked as a deputy agriculture minister for the Hamas-run government in Gaza. The production team had full editorial control of filming with Abdullah.' 'We followed all of our usual compliance procedures in the making of this film, but we had not been informed of this information by the independent producers when we complied and then broadcast the finished film,' the statement added. 'The film remains a powerful child's eye view of the devastating consequences of the war in Gaza which we believe is an invaluable testament to their experiences, and we must meet our commitment to transparency.'
Glasgow Times
4 hours ago
- Glasgow Times
'Sense of excitement building' over Glasgow's George Square work
The leader of Glasgow City Council was filmed in the square as workers in the background were busy with preparations. The square is currently sealed off with some viewpoints cut in the barriers to allow a little look. (Image: Colin Mearns) READ NEXT:Are refugees given priority for social housing in Glasgow? In one of the sunniest and hottest days of the year so far, Aitken gave an update on the work going on. In high viz clothing and a hard hat, she said work will soon begin on West George Street. Aitken said: 'With the historic transformation of George Square well underway, we thought we'd give Glaswegians an opportunity to see the square as you'll never have seen it before. 'The statues have all been taken down, and they're away undergoing their expert restoration. 'Surfaces have been removed and our contractors are now excavating the site to test ground conditions ahead of the square's main construction and pavements on the perimeters will soon be widened. (Image: Colin Mearns) 'In fact, as soon as next week, work's going to begin on the redevelopment of West George Street, creating a seamless flow between the wider centre and our new civic space. 'It's taken a long time to get to this point but now that Glaswegians can see this transformational work underway. 'I think there's a genuine sense of excitement building about it. "So over the next year, we'll keep residents up to date with the progess we're making towards delivering the new George Square that we can all be proud of." READ NEXT:Police called to protest at letting agent as tenants claim eviction threat Work on the square is due to last for another year before the statues are returned and the Square reopened in the second half of 2026. The work costing £20.5m is being carried out by Rainton Construction. The video clip was posted on the City Council's X social media account.
Telegraph
6 hours ago
- Telegraph
BBC axes new Gaza film
The BBC has pulled a Gaza documentary after its producer took aim at director-general Tim Davie. The broadcaster was forced to apologise in February after being accused of airing a 'propaganda' film, which contained contributions from the son of a leading Hamas minister. BBC bosses have now dropped another planned Gaza film. The decision came after the head of Basement Films, the film's production company, branded Mr Davie a 'PR person' who could not be trusted to make editorial decisions. The BBC had initially delayed the release of the film, Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, while it conducted a review into the disastrous release of its previous Gaza documentary. Ben de Pear, the Basement Films boss, claimed that this delay was decided from a 'PR defensive point of view, rather than a journalistic one', and that the BBC 'stymied' journalists. He had been speaking at the Sheffield DocFest on Thursday. The BBC's decision also came after Ramita Navai, the documentary's director, also made comments on the Today programme. She said during the segment that 'Israel has become a rogue state that's committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing and mass-murdering Palestinians '. It is understood that this partisan view from the filmmaker may have compromised the documentary being presented as an impartial production. A statement from the BBC released on Friday said: 'For some weeks, the BBC has been working with Basement Films to find a way to tell the stories of these doctors on our platforms. 'Yesterday [Thursday], it became apparent that we have reached the end of the road with these discussions.' The BBC added that 'broadcasting this material risked creating a perception of partiality that would not meet the high standards that the public rightly expect of the BBC'. The release of Gaza: Doctors Under Attack had been paused following outrage over the BBC's decision to air the previous film, Gaza: How to Survive a Warzone, a documentary created by production company Hoyo. The broadcaster removed the film from iPlayer after days of criticism over its featuring of children linked to Hamas. The BBC also issued an apology after it was revealed that a major contributor to the programme was the son of Ayman Alyazouri, a Hamas minister. This link was not disclosed to viewers. The BBC said it was not aware of the Hamas link, while Hoyo later claimed the BBC was aware. The BBC faced pressure to release the delayed documentary about doctors in Gaza, and Mr Davie was urged to air the film in an open letter signed by 600 signatories, including Harriet Walter, Miriam Margolyes, Maxine Peake and Juliet Stevenson. They claimed the delay was ' political suppression '. It is understood that no such concerns have been raised about Gaza: Doctors Under Attack, and the BBC said: 'We want to thank the doctors and contributors, and we are sorry we could not tell their stories. The BBC will continue to cover events in Gaza impartially.' The rights to the film will now revert back to Basement Films, which will be free to screen the feature.
