HL Deb 07 May 1980 vol 408 cc1651-3

3 p.m.

Baroness DAVID

My Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.

The Question was as follows:

To ask Her Majesty's Government whether it is true that Oxfordshire County Council is proposing to charge for transport to Church schools.

The MINISTER of STATE, DEPARTMENT of EDUCATION and SCIENCE, (Baroness Young)

No, my Lords. As I understand it, the Oxfordshire authority have decided that, subject to certain exceptions, free school transport should be provided only for pupils attending their nearest available maintained schools where the distance from home to school by the shortest available route is in excess of the statutory walking distance. The new arrangements are intended to come into effect at the beginning of the next school year, except that pupils attending denominational schools who under the existing arrangements are provided with free transport or assistance with travelling expenses will continue to benefit so long as they remain at the same school.

Baroness DAVID

My Lords, I thank the Minister for her Answer. May I ask her whether or not it will be true that children going to denominational schools will have to pay if they are new pupils of those schools? Present pupils, I understand, will be paid for, but will it not be true that new pupils will have to pay?

Baroness YOUNG

My Lords, my understanding of the position is that the new arrangements will not apply to pupils at denominational schools until the end of the summer term 1981, but that pupils already attending such schools by the end of the summer term 1981 will continue to benefit while they remain in attendance at those schools.

Baroness DAVID

My Lords, may I ask the Minister what is the attitude of the Government about free transport to denominational schools? In the past, the Government have always honoured the religious settlement made at the time of the 1944 Act. May I ask what this Government's attitude is going to be in the future?

Baroness YOUNG

My Lords, I think that the Government have made their position on this matter very clear indeed. I do not wish to repeat the discussions that we had at an earlier stage, upon which this House took a decision and upon which the Government took a decision. The noble Baroness is asking a Question about what Oxfordshire are doing now and whether or not the Government will intervene. The position is that on the information available to the department, the authority's new policy would not appear to place them in default of discharging their statutory duties.

Baroness DAVID

My Lords, may I ask the Minister whether she realises that the Secretary of State said at the time of the Second Reading of the 1980 Education (No. 2) Bill that he hoped that local education authorities would continue to provide transport to denominational schools? Is that still the attitude?

Baroness YOUNG

My Lords, the words of my right honourable friend the Secretary of State must be read in full. The noble Baroness should refer to all his remarks, not to part of them.