Catherine McKinnell

It is an honour to serve under you as Chair today, Mrs Harris. I congratulate my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham (Joe Morris) on securing the debate today on this very important subject. I know how hard he works to represent the constituents of Hexham and how passionate he is about access to the best education possible for the children in his rural constituency. I am very familiar with my hon. Friend’s constituency, having lived there, spent most of my holidays there, and represented parts of it for 14 years leading up to the last general election. It is a truly beautiful and blessed part of Britain, but I totally understand that it is not without its challenges. He is rightly here today raising them and ensuring that he can deliver change for his constituents. 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. As my hon. Friend will know, local authorities are required to arrange free travel for children of compulsory school age who attend their nearest school but cannot walk there because of the distance, because they have special educational needs, a disability or a mobility problem, or because the route is not safe. There are additional rights to free travel for low-income households, so that they can exercise school choice, but local authorities are struggling to fulfil those duties for all eligible children and the costs of doing so have risen sharply in recent years. All local authorities are looking for ways to deliver that service efficiently and cost-effectively. In 2023, Northumberland county council conducted a comprehensive review of home-to-school travel, which made wide-ranging recommendations that are being implemented. There are several reasons for the steep increase in the cost of home-to-school travel in recent years, such as fuel price inflation and a shortage of drivers, passenger assistants and transport operators. Those things have pushed up costs, but most of the increase can be attributed to challenges in the school system itself that have built up over many years, specifically the way the school system currently educates children with additional needs. My hon. Friend the Member for Hexham raised that in his speech. More children have education, health and care plans and more of those children travel long distances to a school that can meet their needs. As well as their journeys being longer, which is more expensive in itself, that also reduces the opportunity for economies of scale. Fewer children are likely to take each route, so more vehicles are required. We want more children and young people to receive the support they need to thrive in their local mainstream setting, which will reduce the need for them to travel a long way to access specialist placements. Many mainstream settings already deliver specialist provision locally, including through resource provision and special educational needs units, but there will always be a place in the system for special schools, which are required by children with the most complex needs. The Department supports local authorities to provide suitable school places for children and young people with SEND through annual high needs capital funding. It can be used to deliver new places in mainstream and special schools as well as in specialist settings and to improve the accessibility and suitability of existing buildings. We will set out plans for future high needs capital funding in due course. Making sure that more children can be educated in their local community will reduce pressure on home-to-school travel over time. We want to work with the sector to ensure our approach to SEND reform is planned and delivered with parents, schools, councils and expert staff, who we know go above and beyond to support children. There are no quick fixes. Fixing the SEND system is a key priority for this Department and a vital part of our opportunity mission, but it will take time. We will work with the sector as essential and valued partners to ensure our approach to SEND is fully planned and delivered with parents, schools and councils. For many children with SEND, learning to travel independently is an important part of preparing to lead an independent and fulfilling adult life. Independent travel training is a tailored programme to help children with SEND to learn to travel independently, for example by public transport or walking. My hon. Friend the Member for North Northumberland (David Smith) highlighted the length of the journeys that some children in Northumberland face. Local authorities should offer independent travel training to children with SEND who are eligible for free travel to school and who think they could successfully complete the programme. Many parents are anxious about their child’s ability to travel independently, and the child may also be worried about it, so it is important that local authorities support families to help them to understand the benefits of being able to travel independently, which will build their confidence. We are also aware of significant concerns around home-to-school travel for children in temporary accommodation. We understand that when a child has to move to temporary accommodation—for example, as a result of homelessness or fleeing a difficult situation—they will benefit from the continuity of remaining at their current school, with familiar teachers and friends. However, they might not be eligible for free travel to school—for example, if there are other school places that are nearer, between their school and their temporary accommodation. Local authorities have a discretionary power to arrange free home-to-school travel for children, even if they are not eligible. We know there is incredible pressure on local authority home-to-school travel budgets, but we encourage local authorities to exercise that discretion whenever they can for children who are vulnerable. In the Budget, we announced an additional £233 million for tackling all forms of homelessness, taking the total spending on reducing homelessness to nearly £1 billion in 2025-26. That will be directed at supporting people into secure and stable housing, and at supporting children. We recognise that there are similar pressures on local authorities providing transport support to post-16 students, and the cost and availability of public transport can be a real issue, as my hon. Friend also pointed out. Nevertheless, it is a responsibility of local authorities to put in place transport arrangements to help young people aged 16 to 19 to access education or training, as well as for people aged 19 to 24 who have special educational needs, using funds that they have available locally. Most local authorities do offer some form of subsidised transport, and it is combined with the 16 to 19 bursary. It is intended to provide financial support to students from the lowest-income households. For example, in the constituency of Hexham, Northumberland county council offers free transport to young people from low-income backgrounds and those on EHCPs. However, I appreciate the concerns that my hon. Friend the Member for Hexham has outlined today. The vast majority of central Government funding for home-to-school transport and post-16 transport goes through the local government finance settlement, administered by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government. We recognise the challenges local authorities face as the demand for their critical services continues to rise. We have listened to voices across the sector, and we prioritise local government funding. In the Budget, we announced £1.3 billion of new grant funding in 2025-26 for local government to deliver core services, which, together with the local income from council tax and business rates, will provide a real-terms increase in core spending power of around 3.2%. I appreciate the concerns the shadow Minister raised, but the amounts and the way they will be administered will be announced in due course—the announcement is due this month.