§ Mr. SteenTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment if he will estimate the annual cost of providing private taxi hire for the purposes of school transport in(a) Devon and (b) the United Kingdom. [151881]
§ Jacqui SmithIn 1998–99, the latest year for which figures are available, Devon local education authority spent £11.9 million on home to school transport. The figure for England for the same year was £444 million. These figures are for all forms of transport: we do not have any means of estimating the amount spent on taxis.
§ Ms WalleyTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Employment how much his Department spent on school bus transport in the last financial year; and if he will break down the sums allocated to each LEA. [152009]
§ Jacqui SmithMy Department does not allocate money to local education authorities specifically for school transport. Money for this purpose is included in LEAs' standard spending assessments, but it is up to individual authorities how they spend it. In 1998–99, the latest year for which figures are available, LEAs in England spent a total of £444 million on all forms of school transport; we do not have a breakdown of how much of this was on buses.