Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he has made an assessment of the impact of (a) covid-19 in general and (b) the omicron variant on the availability of school transport during the second half of the Autumn term in 2021.

The department does not collect data on the availability of home to school transport. However, we are talking regularly to the Department for Transport, local authorities and academy trusts to monitor the situation. Local authorities and transport operators are working hard to ensure children can get to school. We are aware of some temporary, isolated local issues, but the majority of school transport is operating as normal.

During the 2020/21 academic year, the government provided more than £145 million in additional funding for Local Transport Authorities (LTA) to support increased home to school and college transport capacity whilst social distancing was in place on public transport. This funding has enabled many children and young people to access alternatives to public transport. Further information and LTA funding breakdowns can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extended-rights-to-free-school-travel--2.