§ Bob RussellTo ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills what assessment he has made of the implications for parental choice for schools of the announcement of proposals to stagger the school day; and if he will make a statement. [131618]
§ Mr. MilibandSchool governing bodies will continue to set school opening hours to suit the circumstances of parents and pupils at their school. The recent publication "Travelling to School: an action plan" encourages school to work with their local authority and transport providers to consider whether staggered school opening hours can allow pupils to access a wider range of school based activities, cut costs and improve services by allowing the same number of buses to provide a service to many more pupils. Decisions on school session times are and will remain a matter for individual schools. If schools in their local area adopt different times, parents with reasons to prefer one school's opening hours to another's will no doubt take this into account in choosing a school.