No Joy from Minister on school buses
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• MPs from both sides of the House got little satisfaction when they urged Mrs Margaret Thatcher, the Education Secretary, to ease the restrictions on the transport of schoolchildren in rural areas.
Mr Robert Hicks (Tory, Bodmin) asked for a departmental committee to investigate all aspects of the problem, and was told that Mrs Thatcher and Mr Peyton were in touch about the problems of transport in rural areas. But, added Mrs Thatcher, consideration of the issues involved was still at a .very early stage.
Mr Joseph Ashton (Labour, Bassetlaw) told of the situation in Nottinghamshire where, he said, parents had been told that the transport fee was to be increased from £1 to £4 a term for children attending primary schools. This increase, together with the additional cost of school meals, was a severe burden on parents with young families.
Mrs Thatcher pointed out that this was a matter in which local education authorities had a good deal of discretion. From what Mr Ashton had said, it appeared that the local education authority in this case was using its discretion, and he was complaining about the way in which it may be using its discretion.
Mr James Scott-Hopkins (Tory, Derbyshire West) asked Mrs Thatcher to cancel the regulations regarding free transport in view of the increasing problems the two and three mile rule was inflicting on parents. Mr Scott-Hopkins added that free transport should be instituted for school children of all ages.
Mrs Thatcher said that local education authorities had discretionary powers to pay fares within these limits. They were used to varying extents. and if Mr Scott-Hopkins had any problems in his own constituency perhaps he would consult his own local education authority. Mr Charles Loughlin (Labour, Gloucestershire West) assured Mrs Thatcher that on an issue of this kind she would have no difficulty in getting legislation to deal with it. The Opposition would be only too glad, knowing that they might have done it themselves, to rectify this position and give her all possible assistance.
Mrs Thatcher said she wanted to make it clear that over the statutory limits local education authorities had to pay fares; under these limits they had the option.
Mrs Thatcher observed that the education authorities were coming in for a pounding. They had powers to provide their own transport as well as to pay for transport for children. She accepted that in some areas the problem had been aggravated by setting up very large schools where formerly there were a number of smaller schools serving the area.
At the end of the discussion Mr Scott-Hopkins spoke of Mrs Thatcher's "unsatisfactory" reply, and said that he would try to start a debate on the topic at the earliest possible moment in the next Session.