Council rapped after girl dropped from trip

Disabled pupil unable to go on overseas excursion

The Scottish Public Services Ombudsman (SPSO) has upheld an MSP’s complaint about a disabled pupil being unable to attend a school trip overseas.

It has recommended Perth and Kinross Council apologise to both the pupil and her mother, identified in its decision report only as Miss A and Mrs B, for “failing to obtain all relevant information in deciding whether to remove Miss A from the trip” and for “not taking their responsibilities under the Equality Act 2010 into account”.

Its decision report, which also only identified the MSP who raised the complaint as Ms C, explained: “Miss A has a condition which is a disability under the Equalities Act 2010.

“The school understood Miss A’s health to be particularly poor and had concerns about safely managing her condition during the trip.

“The school carried out an additional risk assessment and sought advice from the council, who advised that a parent or guardian should accompany Miss A otherwise she should be excluded for safety reasons.

“Ultimately a parent or guardian could not attend and Miss A did not go on the trip.

“Ms C complained that the school failed to take all relevant information into account when they decided to remove Miss A from the trip. Ms C also raised concerns about how the school communicated the decision to exclude Miss A to Mrs B and Miss A.

“We found that, due to their concerns about her health, it was reasonable that the school carried out an additional risk assessment about Miss A’s attendance on the trip.

“However, we found that the school should have given Mrs B a timescale to provide medical documents, which they did not.

“We also found that during the decision-making process the school should have discussed Miss A’s health and the support she may need during the trip with her.

“We also considered that the decision to remove Miss A from the trip should have been communicated to her directly by the school and it was not.

“We therefore upheld these two aspects of Ms C’s complaint.

“Ms C also complained that the council did not take their responsibilities under the Equalities Act 2010 into account in their handling of the matter.

“We took independent advice from an equalities adviser. The adviser considered that the school had made a reasonable adjustment by organising medical training for staff attending the trip.

“However, we found that this should have been organised at an earlier stage in planning the trip.

“The equalities adviser also considered that the council should have advised the school about their responsibilities under the Equalities Act 2010 and their need to make reasonable adjustments. We found that the council did not advise the school of this.

“In addition the equalities adviser said that the council’s advice should have been tailored specifically to Miss A and her condition, which it was not. Therefore we upheld this aspect of Ms C’s complaint.”

A council spokesperson said: “We note the ombudsman’s decision and we have addressed their recommendations as set out in the decision report.”

The school should have discussed Miss A’s health and the support she may need