Roberta Blackman-Woods (City of Durham) (Lab)
First, may I congratulate two of my constituents, Michelle Bainbridge and Stephen Guy, on running such an excellent campaign in Sherburn village against the home to school transport arrangements, and on discovering that the problem lay not with the local authority, Durham county council, but with national legislation? I also thank them for introducing this petition, which has attracted hundreds of signatures.
The petition states:
The Petition of residents of Durham,
Declares that the Petitioners believe that the Home to School Transport Guidance and Education Act 1996 does not make adequate provision for children travelling safely to and from school and that it should be amended to set a new statutory threshold of 2 miles to access free school transport; to properly define a safe route to school as one that considers issues of lighting topography, degree of isolation and other relevant matters and defines a safe route as one that can be walked safely by secondary school aged children without being accompanied by an adult.
The Petitioners therefore request that the House of Commons urges the Government to amend the Home to School Transport Guidance and Education Act 1996 accordingly and ensure that all households in receipt of any earnings replacement or means tested benefit or tax credits shall have access to free home school transport.
And the Petitioners remain, etc.
[P001153]