Question to the Department for Education:
To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will publish his Department's assessment of the amount of additional funding allocated for home to school transport since September 2020 that has been provided to coach operators.
Since September 2020, the Department has provided local transport authorities with £98.5 million in grant allocations. Local transport authorities are using this funding to increase transport capacity on dedicated school and college transport during the COVID-19 outbreak. This includes hiring significant numbers of additional vehicles, including coaches. Allocations to local transport authorities are published at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/extended-rights-to-free-school-travel--2.
We have not provided any additional home to school transport funding directly to coach operators.