Education, Education, Education

Big day today and I must admit I would be feeling uncomfortable in the public sector right now. It was the private sector that went overdrawn but the public sector that now has to settle the account.

What fate for the bus service, after lunchtime’s comprehensive spending review? Local bus service subsidies are what are termed “discretionary”, which means they might be subject to cuts. School transport’s “essential” and mandatory and therefore is safe. At least operators can console themselves with ad rely on that.

Yet, there’ve been noises from a fairly largish number of LEAs about stopping transport for pupils attending denominational schools. That bit’s discretionary. Large faith catchments mean a large transport requirement.

Last week, the Times went one step further. In a bid to save money, it contemplated the *complete* withdrawal of home to school transport. It might be argued in today's world that the three-mile limit is somewhat arbitrary, in any case. Withdrawal of free transport would save several hundred million pounds though when last mooted, in the early 1980s, it actually cost a minister his scalp. Things are different now. For one thing, more families own more than one car.

Speak to operators who specialise in school transport. They often say they have no option but to enter such a market. Often, they feel their rates are poor or undercut. They can sometimes suffer for anti-social behavioural problems. A number of them aren’t therefore in the market through choice. The wholesale withdrawal of free transport would nevertheless have a significant impact on smaller coach proprietors whose bread & butter comes from the LEA cheque each month. Diminishing private hire & tour income might be the cream but such work is unsustainable without the daily school run. Withdrawing school transport entirely could spell the end of the road for struggling family coach firms.

And not just smaller operators. Local buss services carrying qualifying pupils are vulnerable, too, where the proportion of scholars at peak is high. It might put paid to some more rural services that operate on the back of school work, such is the importance of scholars' revenue.

Would any withdrawal see a balancing rise in fare paying bus services at peak times? Who can afford to operate large vehicles across the peak charging child fares but without subsidy? There *are* such services but invariably they are available to middle class parents whose preference is for a school other than the nearest and who are prepared to pay almost any price to see their offspring get a better schooling. Your ordinary, every day parent is going to struggle with the bill.

The debate has therefore cycled from the yellow school bus commission's pumping millions more into school transport to complete withdrawal. That’s not to suggest, of course, that the Times is either right or accurate about free transport withdrawals. In a separate occasion last week, the Times also wondered about free transport for people over 60, something the government has pledged to retain. And it’s one thing for the Times to highlight actual costs (and the costs given were large but meaningless out of context). It’s another for the government to act on the suggestion. I reckon they won’t. But may be they will.