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7.14 pm
The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Education and Skills (Mr. Ivan Lewis): I congratulate the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell (Matthew Taylor) on securing the Adjournment debate. I know that he has a genuine interest in many aspects of this important issue, as do other hon. Members—although not many are present this evening. I hope that we can have a constructive debate over the next few months about the matter. We need a cross-party debate that involves local communities and the Church, which also has an interest.
My desire for a consensual approach is genuine, but I have to tell the hon. Gentleman that it is a common characteristic of Liberal Democrat Members to share an analysis of a problem that genuinely faces the country, but never want to rule out any option that might challenge citizens' contributions to resolving the problem. Liberal Democrat representatives have to answer the question: if we agree that we need to expand, invest in and improve home-to-school transport, how will the expansion be paid for in the long term? Will it be another item that comes from raising the 40 per cent. tax rate up to 50 per cent., for example? That is not a churlish comment, but a genuine one. We will have to find a way of identifying the resources to improve access to transport—not only for children and young people in rural communities, but in all communities.
It is also important to say that, in the context of the proposed legislation, a local education authority would have to consult the local community and volunteer to run a pilot. The proposal would then have to be approved by the Secretary of State before the pilot would be considered acceptable as a means of testing the innovation, experimentation and new ideas. If it is true that the hon. Gentleman's local authority and community do not feel that it is worth testing those ideas in a pilot or trying to solve some complex long-running problems, there would be no compulsion to participate in the process. That is an important point.
We should not be scaremongering either local education authorities or, more importantly, local parents by saying that a compulsory obligation will soon be imposed on them to participate in a pilot against their wishes, leading to various problems. The only way that a local education authority could end up participating would be if it were initially to volunteer because the local community supported it, and if the Secretary of State were to approve the application to be one of the pilot areas.
Matthew Taylor: I accept the Minister's point about the pilot areas and I believe it extremely unlikely that Cornwall county council would volunteer to start charging parents in a pilot scheme, but the Minister
must accept that the principle is to remove the entitlement and if the Government view the initial pilots as successful, they could become more general. That brings into question the principle that local authorities are automatically funded on the basis of the free school provision. That may not be the Government's view now, but they could be opening the gate to a future Government who might adopt precisely that position. It could be the start—or the thin end of the wedge—of eroding a guaranteed free school bus place for every child.
Mr. Lewis: The hon. Gentleman says that it is unlikely that his local communities, local education authority or constituents would volunteer for the experiment to introduce charging, as he puts it. However, they may seek to volunteer to test out innovative ways of tackling some of their fundamental problems in respect of travel between school and home. People are mature enough and communities are able enough to make rounded judgments about what is in the best interest of a particular community to solve some long-running problems. Any decision about the lessons learned from pilots or testing new ideas will clearly have to demonstrate that a particular course of action is, in the round, in the best interests of local communities—all local communities that face problems of access and isolation. It is unfair and unreasonable scaremongering to suggest that the proposals are the thin end of the wedge. That takes no account of our capacity to adopt a consensual approach to tackling a problem that is very real for many communities in this country.
It would be irresponsible of the Government to turn their back on the problem and not to try to resolve it. Our proposals would free up local authorities, and allow them to experiment and innovate. They would have to consult their local communities before they went down that road—I hope that the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell will excuse the pun.
The problems that need to be resolved cross the political divide. There will be a process of pre-legislative scrutiny before legislation comes before the House. That is important and will allow hon. Members and others to express and articulate their views in a powerful way. It must be more sensible to approach the matter with an open mind and a blank sheet of paper, as that will allow everyone to make a genuine contribution to the debate. Such an approach means that nothing is ruled either in or out when we consider how to remove many of the barriers faced by children and young people who need to travel to schools, further education institutions and other education providers.
Politicians have to make decisions, often on questions that frequently offer no easy answers or choices. The hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell will not appreciate my using the example of the council in Luton, which is controlled by the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. It is proposing to cut school transport resources and school crossing patrols. My hon. Friend the Member for Luton, South (Margaret Moran) is leading a campaign in her community to stop the council's plan. As I said, politicians have to face up to difficult choices. I suspect that the question of home-to-school transport has been avoided for many years because it is too controversial, difficult or sensitive. Politicians have walked away, leaving people facing the
same difficulties that they have faced for a long time, and which have affected young people's access to education, the local environment and the quality of life of local families and parents.I am proud that the Government are willing to tackle this issue. We do not rule out any option, or rule any option in—we want to facilitate and enable solutions at local level. Central Government are often prey to the criticism that they seek to dictate policy in the search for one-size-fits-all solutions. Another accusation is that central Government change policy in ways that are too dramatic and hasty to take people with them.
On school transport, enabling legislation will be produced, after a pre-legislative scrutiny process, that will give local education authorities the freedom and flexibility to face up to what in many areas is a chronic problem. They will have the opportunity to step up to the mark and take responsibility for tackling the problem, and the freedom to innovate and test out new ideas as they do so. We want local authorities to achieve a step change in their response to a problem that has resisted progress for many years.
It must be right for central Government to create an environment in which local education authorities are freed from some of the constraints that prevent them from being innovative in their response to the problem. Our proposals will give them the power and the freedom to test the innovations and original ideas that they come up with.
Matthew Taylor: It was clever of the Minister to work in Luton, but people living there may not understand how their Member of Parliament can defend free transport at the same time as the Minister is arguing to remove the statutory protection for entitlement to free transport for persons resident more than 3 miles away. In Cornwall, 10,000 persons who live more than 3 miles from a school rely on free transport, but 60,000 others live closer. If they were offered a discount at the expense of people living farther away losing their free entitlement, they might vote for that change. But would it make sense to help with a bus ride those who live close enough to their schools to walk or cycle, at the expense of free transport for those who do not? The majority could take a decision that was not right for people who depend on free transport because the only way of getting their children to school is by bus.
Mr. Lewis: The hon. Gentleman is one of the architects of his party's strategy—and central to it is the concept of localism, devolution and empowering local communities to make the right decisions for themselves. That is exactly what the Government are doing with this policy. The hon. Gentleman appears to be afraid of local
communities and LEAs reaching conclusions on what is in the best interests, in the round, of the young people and families in his constituency.The Luton analogy was not fair, because there the proposal is seriously to cut home-to-school transport provision. Government policy is about freeing up local education authorities to enable them significantly to improve and expand the ways in which children and young people can have access to education and to increase capacity. I feel passionately about encouraging many more children and young people to stay on in education post-16, so that they may see the benefits and progress into further or higher education or a skilled job. It is particularly important for older young people to have access to institutions of their choice, to motivate them in staying on in education or training. An important part of that is a sensible approach to transport policy, which is fundamental to increasing aspirations and levels of attainment—particularly in low-aspiration communities, where the belief can permeate that, on reaching 16, one drops out of education and training.
Whether it be education maintenance allowances or revamping modern apprenticeships, the Government are doing much to boost post-16 participation, but there is still the problem in many families and neighbourhoods of low aspiration. If we permit significant barriers to be put in the way of children and young people in making the choice to progress and develop, we will damage the long-term social fabric and economy of communities such as that which the hon. Gentleman represents.
I ask the hon. Member for Truro and St. Austell to participate in this debate in a fair-minded and objective way. My right hon. Friend the Secretary of State has made it absolutely clear that we want to work on policy in a consensual way. We seek consensus on a difficult and challenging issue facing the whole country, which is most acute in particular areas. I ask the hon. Gentleman to resist the temptation to play party politics. I can see that scaremongering to his constituents about the thin end of the wedge and the end of free education is attractive and seductive politically, but in an era in which politicians have a problem with being trusted, it should be remembered that the public know some issues are difficult and that there must be an honest dialogue about how to resolve them.
The checks, balances and stages we propose will ensure that we shall genuinely, not superficially, engage, involve and consult local communities and give them the power to decide whether they want to be part of our policy initially. Then we must learn from best practice locally in resolving some of the issues that continue to present problems in respect of access by children and young people to education and their local environment.
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