Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if she will review the statutory walking distance for free school transport.

The department’s home-to-school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport.

Local authorities must arrange free home-to-school travel for children of compulsory school age, 5 to 16, who attend their nearest school and would not be able to walk there due to the distance, their special educational needs, disability or mobility problem, or because the nature of the route means it would be unsafe for them to do so. There are extended rights to free travel for children from low-income families, intended to help them exercise school choice.

The government is committed to creating opportunities for all children so that they can achieve and thrive and is working with department officials to understand how well home-to-school travel supports children to access educational opportunity.