Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, whether her Department has made an estimate of the number of SEND pupils in (a) Leicester East constituency and (b) England impacted by changes to the bus fare cap.

The Department for Education is the lead government department with responsibility for policy on home to school transport, including provision for pupils with special educational needs.

With regard to the national bus fare cap, this will be designed to be as equitable as possible in terms of its support for passengers across England. One of the key principles of the scheme will be to include ‘open’ services which allows any member of public to board. ‘Closed’ school services, defined as a service which would not allow a member of the general public to board, and school services which operate in term-time only will not be eligible for inclusion.

Services from participating operators that serve schools, are open to members of the public and run all year round will be eligible for inclusion in the scheme. This is the same approach as that taken under the current fare cap.