§ 16. Mr. Wigleyasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what recent representations he has received about the provisions of the Education (No. 2) Bill in regard to school transport.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneIn the course of the last few months my right hon. and learned Friend has met the Archbishop of Westminster and other Church leaders, as well as representatives of organisations and bodies concerned with various aspects of education. In addition, he has received over 5,000 letters and petitions from members of the public and about 500 letters from Members of Parliament about constituents' correspondence.
§ 46. Mr. Strangasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, in estimating the national average school transport fare needed to achieve the savings in 1981 set out in Cmnd. 7746, what proportion of schoolchildren he has assumed will cease to use school transport as a consequence of the estimated fare.
141W
§ Mr. MacfarlaneNo such assumption was made or needed in order to derive an illustrative estimate of the national average charge required to achieve the 1980–81 savings.
§ 57. Mr. Freudasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what proportion of the current educational budget is currently allocated to school transport (a) in the primary sector, (b) in the secondary sector and (c) overall.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneFigures for the current year are not available. In the financial years 1978–79 the proportion of total net current expenditure on education in England and Wales—excluding universities—spent on school transport was as follows:
Primary schools 0.27 per cent. Secondary schools 1.08 per cent. All schools—including special schools 1.81 per cent.
§ 37. Mr. Les Huckfieldasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what further representations he has received on local authority transport charges for children attending denominational schools.
§ Mr. MacfarlaneSince the Education (No. 2) Bill was published approximately 4,500 letters on this subject have been received.