Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what guidance her Department issues to local authorities on the timeframe for consulting on changes to home to school transport provision and the implementation of any proposed changes.

The ‘Travel to school for children of compulsory school age’ statutory guidance makes clear that, where a local authority is proposing to make changes to their school travel policy which may affect children’s eligibility, they should consult locally for at least 28 working days during term time. The guidance is available at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/home-to-school-travel.

The guidance also says they must make sure their policy is available by 19 September each year so that parents may take it into account when deciding which schools to apply for during the normal admissions round. Wherever possible, local authorities should phase in changes so that children who begin attending a school under one set of travel arrangements continue to benefit from those arrangements until they leave that school.