Clause 1 - School travel schemes
School Transport Bill
2:30 pm
Mr Roger Casale (PPS (Team PPS), Foreign & Commonwealth Office; Wimbledon, Labour)
I welcome you to the Committee, Mr. O'Brien, and I look forward to working under your chairmanship.
Before the Committee adjourned this morning, I explained why I supported the spirit of amendment No. 53, tabled by the hon. Member for Fareham (Mr. Hoban), and of amendments Nos. 57 and 58, tabled in my name and that of my hon. Friend the Member for Stroud (Mr. Drew). We were enjoying quite a degree of cross-party consensus, having identified very serious flaws and deficiencies in the way the legislation is currently drafted in relation to protection, in particular of vulnerable children—those with special educational needs—and their transportation to school. However, while I was voicing my support for the spirit of those amendments, I was also encouraged by the prospect that we will address these matters again during the progress of the Bill, as the specific measures proposed in the amendments may not be the best and most effective way of dealing with the serious problem that, fortunately, we all now agree exists and needs to be dealt with.
Amendments Nos. 57 and 58 are probing amendments, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to probe further in relation to amendment No. 53, but I first want to comment briefly on amendment No. 60. However we decide to resolve the problems that have been identified in relation to the safety of children with special educational needs travelling between school and home, I am clear that there is a need for constant monitoring at a national level of what happens in different situations around the country. It may well be the case that the solution lies at the local level and not, as amendment No. 53 proposes, with the improved bureaucracy required to enhance criminal records checks. However, we cannot simply leave the problem to be sorted out at the local level and walk away from it. We must have a process whereby we continuously monitor whether what is happening at the local level is up to the standards that we wish.
Amendment No. 60 would do just that. It would ensure both that scheme authorities operating such transport schemes report to national authorities on how school travel schemes have affected disabled children and those with SEN, and that the appropriate national authority has the information that is necessary to determine whether the school travel scheme is having a positive or a detrimental impact on disabled children and those with SEN—who, as we have seen, are particularly vulnerable. In turn, that information would allow the appropriate national authority to make an informed decision as to whether the scheme should be allowed to continue or be revoked. Given that the scheme authority should collect the information required by the amendment as
a matter of course, it should not impose any excessive bureaucratic burden, but it would ensure greater accountability.
I hope that the Minister will give appropriate attention to the need to have proper accountability at the national level, even though we are likely to look to the local level to deliver the improvements we need.