§ Mr. Don FosterTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what are the(a) current and (b) potential future funding opportunities for local authorities to offer home to school transport for those currently not entitled to free transport under the Education Act 1996. [75599]
§ Stephen TwiggCompulsory school age pupils are entitled to free transport if their nearest suitable school is beyond statutory walking distance from their home. In other circumstances, LEAs have the discretion to provide help with travel in accordance with their own locally determined policies and priorities. Although we keep the arrangements under regular review we will not consider changing the current system for compulsory school age children unless we have clear evidence that an alternative system is fairer.
For post-16 students, there is a duty on LEAs to determine what is necessary to meet their particular local circumstances. In addition, as a result of a recommendation from the study commissioned by DfES into transport support and services for post 16 students in further education, £9 million has been made available in 2002–03 to 60 LEAs under the Transport Pathfinder Initiative. The initiative will run from April 2002 to July 2003. Their purpose is to test and develop different approaches to transport support and services and will be evaluated in order to inform future transport policy.