§ Mr. WallaceTo ask the Secretary of State for Scotland if he will list(a) the average number of school children in Scotland travelling by school transport each day and (b) the number of (i) fatalities and (ii) injuries of school children involved in road accidents associated with school transport in each of the last five years. [42421]
§ Mr. WilsonTables 1 and 2 show the number of schoolchildren in Scotland provided with free transport. The figures are derived from a survey of school transport provided by education authorities in September each year.
Table 3 shows the number of road accident casualties in Scotland who were school pupils going to or from school by minibus, bus or coach for each of the last five years for which figures are available. It is not possible to identify how many of these were travelling in school transport provided by education authorities.
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Table 2: Education authority school pupils receiving free transport 1992–97; number of pupil journeys by type of transport Year (at September) 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 19972 Contract: Bus — — — — — 71,334 Minibus — — — — — 13,289 Taxi or hire cars — — — — — 16,938 Total Contract 91,046 94,064 98,023 98,348 98,009 101,561 Train 1,719 1,691 1,855 2,855 2,193 1,726 Other 9,596 10,661 12,744 12,141 15,549 717 1 Number of pupils 2 Provisional 3 Pupils are counted once for each method of transport used Note:
A revised classification of school transport was introduced for the 1997 survey; figures are therefore not fully comparable with those for earlier years.
Table 3: School child casualties (age 4–16) travelling to or from school by minibus, bus or coach in Scotland Year 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 Killed 0 1 1 0 0 Injured 49 48 116 48 82