School transport ‘no longer fit for purpose’

Chris Haines, ICNN Senedd reporter

Senedd members called for a long-awaited overhaul of “inadequate” school transport, warning too many pupils facing barriers to accessing education.

Tom Giffard described current legislation – which provides free school transport if pupils live two miles or more away, or three for secondary pupils – as no longer fit for purpose.

The Conservative said: “These are long distances to expect children to make in all weathers. Sadly, however, we see more councils moving to the minimum legal requirements.”

Mr Giffard raised the children’s commissioner’s concerns about the Welsh Government’s “wholly inadequate” review of the 2008 learner travel law.

He said: “And I agree with her, especially regarding the lack of a legal duty on councils to provide transport for students over 16 or for those with additional learning needs.”

‘Horrified’

Peredur Owen Griffiths, Plaid Cymru’s shadow transport secretary, referenced a survey carried out by Ruben Kelman, a former member of the Welsh Youth Parliament.

Nearly 40% of parents at Llanishen High School said their child had to miss school because they were unable to afford travel costs, with poorer children from Llanedeyrn suffering.

Mr Owen Griffiths said: “One pupil had lost nine days this year and 15 the previous year because her family weren’t able to afford the cost of the bus.”

The Plaid Cymru politician told the Senedd: “This has consequences for attendance levels, which disproportionately affects children in Wales’s most deprived communities, exacerbating educational inequality.”

He was horrified to read that campaigners in Rhondda Cynon Taf had found some pupils were having to make a two-hour commute on foot to school due to current transport policy.

‘Unsuitable’

Labour’s Jenny Rathbone pointed to the £204m-a-year spend on learner travel, suggesting better integration with local bus services to align timetables with learners’ needs.

The Cardiff Central Senedd member suggested competent secondary pupils who have to travel 10 or even 15 miles could use electric bicycles to get to school.

But Tory Senedd leader Darren Millar said electric bikes would be completely unsuitable in parts of Wales, including his Clwyd West constituency.

He said: “It’s the inclement weather, it’s the condition of the roads, the narrowness of many of these roads that people will be having to navigate. I don’t think it’s an acceptable solution.”

Mr Millar raised the example of a parent who fled domestic violence yet is not entitled to free home-to-school transport due to the location of the shelter.

‘Free for all’

Labour’s Lee Waters, a former transport minister, expressed sympathy with council officers put in the position of having to “ration” public funding.

Stressing that councils have discretion but not the money, he told Senedd members a quarter of all school budgets is spent on transport.

“We know school budgets are under pressure, he said. ”And are we saying that even more … should go towards school transport? Because that’s the practical effect….

“Or are we saying additional public funding from the Welsh budget should go from somewhere else into the transport budget to pay for this extra provision?”

Mr Waters said a forthcoming bill to reform a “disjointed, almost free-for-all” system of bus services would address issues at the heart of the problem.

‘No silver bullet’

During the debate on March 25, transport secretary Ken Skates pointed out that the mileage thresholds in Wales are more generous than England and Scotland.

With a school transport summit to be held on May 9, he said: “There are no easy answers but we will examine the issues at the summit and we’ll seek ways of delivering differently.”

He told the Senedd a consultation on refreshed guidance will be launched after the summit and he raised the announcement of a pilot of a £1 cap on single bus journeys for under-22s.

“There is no silver bullet in solving the challenges associated with learner travel,” he said. “Multiple solutions are needed, and the bus Bill is certainly one of them.

“Now, given that huge £204m bill for learner travel, I think we must look at ways of reducing costs if we are to extend services further.”