HC Deb 26 April 2004 vol 420 cc811-2W
Mr. Willis

To ask the Secretary of State for Education and Skills pursuant to his answer of 22 March 2004,Official Report, column 626W, on school meals, how many (a) primary and (b) secondary school pupils live more than three miles away from the school that they attend; and how many of those are eligible for free school meals. [166999]

Mr. Miliband [holding answer 22 April 2004]: The information requested is shown in the table.

Numbers of pupils living more than three miles1 from the maintained primary and secondary schools2 that they attend— January 2003
Primary Secondary
Number of pupils travelling more than

three miles

155,187 583,446
Percentage of pupils travelling more than

three miles (as percentage of all pupils)

3.7 17.8
Number of pupils eligible for free school

meals travelling more than three miles

12,204 46,596
Percentage of pupils eligible for free

school meals travelling more than three

miles (as percentage of all FSM pupils)

1.7 9.8
1 Distances calculated are straight line
2 Includes middle schools as deemed
Source:
Pupil Level Annual Schools' Census