Will the Minister confirm whether they have engaged with local authorities in Wales who are considering significant cuts to their public transport operations due to budget constraints, to push for assurances that young people from disadvantaged socio-economic backgrounds will still have reasonable transport options to attend school?
Public services are facing an incredibly tough financial situation. Through our draft budget we are protecting the 3.1% rise in the Local Government settlement for 2024-25, which funds schools and within that departmental budget we have reshaped spending plans to focus on under-16 education. On 23 January, the Minister for Education and Welsh Language outlined in his oral statement on tackling the impact of poverty on educational attainment how we are working with our partners across education to meet this commitment.
It is the statutory duty of each local authority to provide school transport to eligible learners in accordance with the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure. However, local authorities have discretionary powers and can provide more generous provision. This is a decision for each local authority to make.
The Welsh Government meet regularly with local authority transport officials, and the WLGA to discuss transport operations – both commercial and non-commercial, including learner transport.
By the end of this financial year Welsh Government will have provided over £200m of funding to protect our bus network across Wales since the onset of the Covid pandemic. Local Authorities, Transport for Wales and operators have been working together on a regional basis to plan the network which best meets the needs of the travelling public. This includes local bus services that also transport statutory eligible learners, and we have asked regional network teams to give particular consideration to supporting these services.