Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps her Department has taken to ensure that the discretionary powers of local authorities on school transport funding are used to reflect local needs.

Funding for school transport is delegated to local authorities. They have the discretionary powers to provide free home to school transport beyond their statutory duties. We believe that local authorities are best placed to determine how their resources should be used in the areas they serve and to balance the demands of a broad range of discretionary travel against their budget priorities.