§ Mr. Patrick Nicholls (Teignbridge)Perhaps the most popular reform introduced by the Government since 1979 is that which enables parents to send their children to a school of their choice. That policy appeals to parents of all political persuasions and of none. I initiate this debate because, if the policy is to work in rural areas, the local education authority must operate a fair, humane and justifiable transportation policy. At present, the policy in Devon operates along the same lines as the Ritz hotel: we are all free to dine at the Ritz, provided that we can afford to do so. Increasingly, in Devon one must be able to afford to send one's children to the school of one's choice.
The LEA has adopted a school transport policy that makes a mockery of parents' right to choose—and I would argue that that is its intention. I shall set out the facts for the House. The law is clear enough: section 55(1) of the Education Act 1944 states that free school transport must be provided when a designated school is more than two miles away for a child under eight or more than three miles away for children over that age. That is the law as it stands at present. The problem is that, when parents in Devon choose to exercise their right to send their children to the school of their choice, the local education authority tells them that they must meet the transport costs, as the county will not.
When pressed about the matter, the LEA sets out two arguments. First, it says that it does not have enough money. Secondly, it says, "If you think we are bad, the previous Conservative administration was bad also." As to the latter point, the previous Conservative administration followed a similar policy which I criticised at the time, as I do now. However, there are significant differences in the behaviour of the previous Conservative and the present Liberal administration.
As there are many excellent schools in Devon in general, and in Teignbridge in particular, more parents want to exercise their choice not to claim that one school is better than another, but to say that a particular school is right for their child. Even though I criticised the behaviour of the previous Conservative administration, I admit that it did not go to the same extraordinary lengths as the current administration in defying parental choice. I shall return to that point later.
I must lay to rest the claim that the LEA policy is all about money. Perhaps my hon. Friend the Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment will address the grant settlements issue in general when responding to the debate, but at present the settlements are very generous compared with previous awards. The case is much more fundamental. This morning, I debated the issue on a local radio station. The Liberal spokesman who argued the case with me said that I was asking for all transport costs to be subsidised, no matter what choice parents made. He made the ludicrous statement that I had argued that, if a child living in Exmouth wanted to go to school in Plymouth, the county should meet the transport costs involved. It is complete nonsense; I have never said that.
My view is reflected by the parents who have contacted me. They do not want the local authority to provide extra money: they want the county to make the contribution that it would make in any event. In rural areas, designated 1104 schools are often more than three miles away and there is a cost involved in transporting children to those designated schools. The scores of parents who have written to me, telephoned me, come to my surgeries or met me at public meetings in Teignbridge do not ask their fellow council tax payers to meet the extra cost that the county might incur. However, at the very least, they expect that the county will not profit from their desire to choose their children's education.
That is what is happening. When the county refuses to contribute what it would have paid if parents had sent their children to designated schools, it does not have to produce extra money—in fact, it makes a saving. It is important to stress that point. The parents to whom I have spoken and the teachers and the governors who have written to me do not want the county to meet the extra costs of transportation: they simply want the county to pay the money that it would contribute in any event.
The best way to illustrate the injustice and the inevitable motives behind the LEA policy is by giving some examples to the House. A local school has provided me with several such examples, but I shall refer to only three. The first concerns an older child who was to attend the King Edward VI school at Totnes, which is known as KEVICs. That is a designated school. However, the school was full that year, so the county sent that child to the South Dartmoor community college and paid the transport costs.
Two years later, a younger sister entered secondary education. She was to go to KEVICs, but her parents wished to send her to the same school as her sister. The parents were told that the county would not provide free transport and that they could apply for a concessionary place on the bus, amounting to £40 per term. However, that concessionary place can be withdrawn at short notice if an entitled child joins the school. If the parents cannot afford £120 per year, the only solution would be for the two children to attend different schools.
Another common example involves a group of parents from a village outside a school's designated catchment area who approach the LEA requesting that an established route be extended to the village. The parents agree to pay the balance of the cost of that extended route, but the county will not agree to their proposals. I heard of a similar case when I met parents from Chudleigh. Those parents had made it clear to the county that they would underwrite and reimburse the county for any extra expenses that might be incurred in sending their children to the school of their choice. However, their proposal was rejected.
The third example concerns children with examination commitments and GCSE courses of study. They may be provided with transport—usually an expensive taxi—if they move from within the catchment area to a new home outside that area. However, younger children with no GCSE commitments cannot be considered for transportation to their original school and are expected to change to a new school, even if a taxi with seats available is provided for the older child. The teacher who provided me with those examples concludes:
The Government's laudable policy of free parental choice of schools cannot operate at present as parents who exercise their right then find themselves faced with a transport bill which can run to several hundred pounds per year, or serious personal inconvenience".I am not aware of that teacher's political affiliations, but I know how he feels about the issue of parental choice.1105 I shall give the House two other examples. The first relates to my constituents who live in Lustleigh, which is a village on the edge of Dartmoor. There are two villages near Lustleigh—Moretonhampstead and Bovey Tracey. Lustleigh no longer has a school, but there are schools at the other two villages which are virtually equidistant from Lustleigh. I believe that in the past they were co-designated schools, but that is no longer the case.
Mr. and Mrs. Foskett of Lustleigh have written to me about their experience, and it is worth quoting from their letter at some length. They say:
School transport for pupils attending both Bovey Tracey and Moretonhampstead Primary Schools has been a long-running issue for parents in Lustleigh and one which has now progressed to the ridiculous, as evidenced by the disgraceful treatment my youngest son, Richard, has recently received.When my 8 year old son Michael came of school age he was unable to attend Bovey Tracey school"—the designated school—because of pressure of numbers. Consequently, we had no choice but to send him to Moretonhampstead Primary School. After much debate between ourselves and Devon County Council it was agreed that Michael should receive free school transport.When our youngest son Richard started school last January we naturally wanted him to attend the same school as his brother for several reasons which should be apparent. This decision, after appeal in September 1995, was viewed by the LEA as an exercise in parental choice, and therefore, our appeal for free school transport was rejected. Richard continued to travel on the bus whilst we awaited notification as to how much, when and where to pay the fee. To this date"—the letter was dated January 1996—no such notification has been received by ourselves.However, when school resumed following the Christmas break Richard's name did not appear on the passenger list. The bus driver continued to carry him on an unofficial basis, for which he has received a reprimand, whilst we attempted to resolve the situation. We were in the process of doing this and had been in touch with the LEA when Richard was refused access to the bus in order to come home from school. As we are not on the telephone it fell to his 65 year old grandmother to walk from her home in Moretonhampstead to collect him, whilst Michael travelled as normal. The insensitivity of this act towards a bemused 5-year-old child has left us shocked and dismayed, and has resulted in the ridiculous situation of one child travelling to and from school on the bus whilst we follow with the other in the car.Their concluding words are far more graphic than anything I could devise:There are obviously wider issues here also. Government policy of expanding parental choice in education would appear, in rural Devon at least, to contain the proviso of having the financial wherewithal to reach the school of your choice. The result for many in Devon is, therefore, no choice.I am aware that finances are tight—but this is an issue that can be resolved, in our case at least, at no extra cost to the council taxpayer.That is a good example of what I said earlier.Perhaps the most grotesque example, which, if it were not so serious would be laughable, concerns Mr. and Mrs. Walters who live in Denbury. Their nearest school is the South Dartmoor community college, which is some 4.3 miles away from their home, but that is not the school designated by the county council. The county has chosen Coombeshead college, which is an excellent school, as is Knowles Hill school, to which I shall refer in a moment.
Mr. and Mrs. Walters wanted their son Mark to go to Knowles Hill school. They contacted the headmaster and said that there appeared to be a problem in respect of the 1106 distance from their home to the school. So the headmaster had it measured. I quote from his letter to Mr. and Mrs. Walters:
I have had the distance between your area and the two schools independently measured and I can confirm that Knowles Hill school is nearer than Coombeshead when measured along the route that all the children will travel.One might have assumed that the country would be prepared to accept what the headmaster had said in that regard, but not a bit of it. Then, at God knows what cost in terms of officer time and the like, the county managed to devise a route whereby the designated school was nearer. It finally came up with a route which meant that Coombeshead was nearer than Knowles Hill by some 352 yd.Coombeshead and Knowles Hill schools are not only in the same town and within sight of each other. Not only do they share part of a campus, but they share the same bus stop. In other words, whether Mark Walters travels to the school he wants to attend or the school that the county wants him to attend, he will have to get off the bus at the same stop. If one example shows beyond all doubt the motives behind the council's policy, that is it. The schools share the same bus stop, yet the county will not concede that parents have a right to choose.
I could cite numerous examples if time permitted. Some Catholic parents living in Dawlish wrote to me as follows:
We thought that when our children left Our Lady and Saint Patrick's RC Primary School in Teignmouth to which free travel is provided they would be able to attend Cuthbert Mayne Secondary School Torquay with the majority of their classmates. At the end of the 1994 Easter term the 'temporary' bus service which had been in operation for many years was withdrawn by the county council from Dawlish. Parents wishing to send their children to Cuthbert Mayne then had to make alternative arrangements.They continued, as so many parents have done, by asking what is happening to parental choice in Devon.When one examines those cases and asks what fiscal policy is being served, the answer is none. Those parents are seeking the same contribution that the county would have had to make in any event. What possible straightforward, decent, laudable educational policy is being served by treating parents in such a way? It is ludicrous that a school bus is allowed to carry one sibling but not the other. The same bus route and the same bus stop can apply to two schools but the county will not allow parents any choice. Despite the fact that the LEA says that it is short of money, it considers it a good use of officers' time to devise a particular route to ensure that the route to its designated school is 352 yd shorter.
What can be done? I look forward to a change in the law so that local education authorities are not allowed to behave in that way. That is obviously something for the future. Today, I am concerned about the parents in my constituency. When the route between a designated school and a child's home is considered, it should be on the basis that it is a suitable, safe route that a child might reasonably take. I have cited a few examples, but I can give countless others where, to put it as neutrally as I can, there is a grave suspicion that the way in which Devon county council operates that policy has nothing to do with prudent financing and everything to do with thwarting an educational policy with which it is politically out of sympathy.
1107 I hope that, in my hon. Friend's reply to the debate, she will at least say that she is prepared to examine those individual cases and the way in which Devon is operating the policy and attempt to bring some relief to parents in my constituency who, at present, have no hope.
§ The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Employment (Mrs. Cheryl Gillan)I start by congratulating my hon. Friend the Member for Teignbridge (Mr. Nicholls) on securing the debate on a matter of great concern to parents and teachers in his constituency.
My hon. Friend is well known as a champion of parental choice in education. Therefore, it comes as no surprise to me that he has raised that issue in the context of school transport, particularly in the rural areas of his constituency. The Department is already well aware of my hon. Friend's deep concern about the issue following his correspondence with my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State last summer.
Home-to-school transport is a complex and at times contentious subject, so it is important to be clear about the legislation governing its provision. Let me begin by outlining the legislative duties and powers in relation to school transport that are set out in section 55 of the Education Act 1944. Briefly, it states that LEAs must provide free transport if they consider it is necessary to enable a pupil to attend school and that they may help other pupils with their fares.
LEAs have considerable scope to decide when transport is necessary. However, "necessary" is not defined in law; LEAs must consider each case on its merits. Relevant factors include specifically a pupil's age, the nature of possible routes to school and a parent's wish for a child to attend a school of religion or denomination to which the parent adheres.
Free transport is always necessary for pupils of compulsory school age—those aged between five and 16—who attend the nearest suitable school if it is beyond statutory walking distance. Free transport might exceptionally be necessary for a five to 16-year-old who lives within walking distance of the nearest suitable school or attends another school further away. It is for an LEA to consider such a case on its merits.
Court rulings, however, have made it clear that LEAs do not need to provide free transport for pupils whose parents have chosen to send them to a school which is not the nearest suitable one, even if it is beyond statutory walking distance. The additional cost of providing free transport in such circumstances has to be weighed against other priorities. LEAs have ample powers to support choice by helping pupils who do not qualify for free transport, but it is for each LEA to decide whether and how to exercise those powers.
In our view, LEAs' transport responsibilities have one main aim: to ensure that transport difficulties do not deny any pupil an education suitable to his or her ability, aptitude and any special educational needs. But the law rightly gives LEAs wide scope to adopt a transport policy that meets local and individual needs. However, two points are worth emphasising. First, an LEA's policy 1108 should always allow for individual cases to be considered and for appeals to be heard. Secondly, LEAs should ensure that their policy is widely known, so that parents can take account of it when making their choice of school.
In January 1994, my Department sent a letter to chief education officers setting out guidance which we have given in recent years to LEAs on a range of school transport issues. We made it clear that LEAs have the power to help with costs in cases where pupils are not entitled to free transport. We advised that those powers are intended, among other things, to help parents to secure their choice of school, especially in rural areas such as my hon. Friend's constituency, where we recognised that transport can pose particular problems.
It continues to be open to authorities to offer assistance to pupils whose parents have chosen to send them to a school that is not the nearest suitable one. In doing so, however, authorities will wish to continue to take account of two factors: first, whether a pupil's journey to school might be unduly long or tiring, or might otherwise conflict with a pupil's ability to profit educationally; secondly, the financial implications.
Against that background, I understand that it is Devon LEA's policy to provide free transport to a pupil's designated or nearest suitable school if it is beyond statutory walking distance. The policy allows for free transport to be provided in other exceptional circumstances, and allows for each case to be considered on its merits. As my hon. Friend has clearly shown, however, the LEA does not normally provide any assistance when parents choose to send their child to a school which is further away than their nearest or designated one—or, it would appear, to one just alongside.
As we have made clear in correspondence, that policy seems one which the courts would regard as lawful and reasonable, at least in the strict legal sense. My hon. Friend has helpfully outlined how the LEA is operating its policy in some specific cases, and he has certainly challenged its decisions on the basis of common sense. Moreover, on the basis of the evidence that he has presented, I have great sympathy with his views. There seems to be here an element of what might qualify for Esther Rantzen's "jobsworth" award. I would certainly like to look at it more closely. I will therefore follow up the matters that my hon. Friend has raised today, and I hope to be able to write to him in due course.
LEAs in England already spend about £300 million a year on home-to-school transport. Some 80 per cent. of that—around £240 million—is spent by the shires. Devon LEA spends about £12 million a year. My hon. Friend has said that Government funding is sometimes cited as a convenient beating board, so perhaps I should put on the record, once and for all, the financing of Devon's LEA.
Devon's education standard spending assessment for 1996–97 is about £345.9 million, an increase of 5.3 per cent. on 1995–96. It compares very favourably with the national increase of 4.5 per cent. Indeed, since 1990 Devon LEA has received a 38 per cent. increase in education funding. I hope that my hon. Friend will take note of the figures and use them in his constituency.
It is often argued, on parental choice, safety and environmental grounds, that school transport provision should be increased still further. Realistically speaking, demand for free or subsidised transport to schools will 1109 always exceed what LEAs think that they can afford, and spending more on transport would obviously mean spending less elsewhere on education.
There is, however, one way in which that gap might be bridged. Schools could supplement statutory transport provision by arranging transport to meet the needs of other pupils on a full cost-recovery basis. Such transport would help to enhance parental choice and could offer safety and environmental benefits.
Local authorities seem well placed to help schools with such arrangements. They have expertise in drawing up transport contracts and dealing with operators. They are familiar with transport law and with the strict rules governing transport provided for hire or reward. They also have greater buying power than individual schools. I think that there is great scope for LEAs and schools to co-operate in finding imaginative ways of helping—at minimal public expense—pupils who fall outside the free transport provisions established by the 1944 Act.
I get worried when I hear stories of LEAs allegedly attempting to thwart parental choice—one of the most successful elements of Conservative education policy. I fully appreciate, too, the difficulties that my hon. Friend has described. There is no doubt that decisions on the provision of school transport in rural areas like Devon can often be controversial and contentious, as my hon. Friend has ably demonstrated today.
I hope that I have explained that the law is perfectly clear on school transport and parental choice. This is an area of LEA discretion; but LEAs do have powers to assist pupils who do not qualify for free transport, including those whose parents have chosen to send them to a school that is not the nearest suitable one—even if it is beyond statutory walking distance. However, it is for each LEA to decide whether and how to exercise those powers.
The cases that my hon. Friend has cited will give anyone listening to the debate cause for thought. Hence, I repeat my undertaking to look into them in more detail and to write to my hon. Friend once we have probed more deeply into the facts. As for the other examples to which he referred but which, because of a lack of time, he was not able to describe in detail—I enhance my offer: if he will let my Department have the full details of those cases, I shall look into them as well. I hope that my response has been helpful.