§ 27. Sir E. Erringtonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether he will advise education authorities not to charge some secondary school pupils for journeys to and from schools of under 10 miles, while others are not charged for such journeys, and thereby eliminate discrimination.
§ Miss BaconNo, Sir. A local education authority has a statutory duty to provide transport or to bear the cost of travel for a secondary pupil where the nearest suitable school is more than three miles from the pupil's home. Where the pupil attends some other school, arrangements for assistance with the cost of travel are at the discretion of the authority.
§ Sir E. ErringtonDoes the right hon. Lady not realise that two sets of people depend on a particular date, before which pupils going to school have to pay and after which they do not? Will she do something about this?
§ Miss BaconI realise that, in the case which the hon. Gentleman has in mind, there is an anomaly, but, if the local education authority had applied the change retrospectively, there would have been other anomalies. But my right hon. Friend can take no action, since the Hampshire local authority is being more generous than it is legally required to be.