Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment she has made of the need for health services to support local authorities that provide transport to school for children with complex health needs.

The department’s school travel policy aims to make sure that no child is prevented from accessing education by a lack of transport. When a local authority makes travel arrangements for a child with medical needs, they should consider whether and how those needs might affect them during their journey to and from school and, where necessary, put in place proportionate arrangements to manage those needs.

Local authority school travel teams may need to work with local partners to make suitable travel arrangements for children with medical needs, and should be able to expect the support of their local authority’s special educational needs team, local health partners, and the schools to which they arrange travel.