HL Deb 16 December 2002 vol 642 cc76-7WA
Baroness Byford

asked Her Majesty's Government:

When the Learning and Skills Council will take full responsibility for financing home to school transport for post 16 year-olds, thereby protecting rural students from cuts in services consequent on county council spending pressures. [HL458]

Baroness Ashton of Upholland

During the passage of the Learning and Skills Bill, the issue of who should take the lead on providing support for home to school transport was debated, and it was agreed that local education authorities (LEAs) should continue to coordinate this. This was because LEAs are responsible for compulsory school age transport, many of them are already providing good support, and their local authorities have wider responsibilities for transport locally. The Department for Education and Skills arranged a major study of these arrangementsTransport for Students in Further Education by transport consultants Steer Davis Gleave. The study was published earlier this year, and the report and recommendations are available in the House of Commons Library.

My department responded to the consultants' recommendations by changing the legislation governing the support LEAs must provide for students of 16–19 and clarifying their responsibilities in Schedule 19 to the Education Act 2002. The legislation commences in January 2003 and requires LEAs to work with their learning and skills council, colleges, passenger transport authorities and other partners to meet the needs of students aged 16–19. They must take account of a number of factors, including ensuring that students are not prevented from accessing and completing their courses because of the availability of transport services or their ability to afford them. We have also provided development funding of £9 million in 2002–03 to help 70 LEAs to research and develop more effective transport support arrangements. Finally, from September 2003 we will be channelling additional funding via the LEAs to help local partnerships to provide effective and sustainable transport support. This will complement the substantial additional funding to be provided to students of 16–19 from September 2004, when the education maintenance allowance is introduced nationally. We are confident that these measures will make a significant improvement to transport support generally and for rural areas in particular.

The current review of funding of adult learning is looking at all aspects of financial support for adult learners.