Question to the Department for Transport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Transport, if he will make it her policy to require local authorities to (a) consult parents, teachers and pupils on transport infrastructure in a schools local community area and (b) to conduct an assessment of the safety of that transport.

One of the central considerations in transport planning is the way in which transport serves the local community and provides access to services like education. The Department for Transport therefore recommends that, as part of their Local Transport Plans (LTPs), local authorities pay particular attention to school travel and the infrastructure related to school transport. The Department also recommends that local authorities should engage local stakeholders, including parents, teachers and pupils, as they prepare their LTPs.

Local authorities should always make personal and public safety a priority as they develop and deliver their LTPs. Local knowledge is required to determine what safety measures are appropriate in individual cases, making local authorities best placed to do this.