Education and Inspections Bill

Although I have no amendment in this group, I hope the Committee will allow me to address the other half of the issue which the noble Baroness, Lady Buscombe, has raised. I should like to mention a matter I raised on Second Reading and ask the Minister whether he has had a chance to reflect further on denominational transport. As Members of the Committee know, rather than imposing a duty on LEAs to provide free transport to the nearest denominational school, the law requires LEAs to have regard to any wish of the parents in that respect. In fact, in recent years a succession of local authorities have decided to disregard parents’ views and withdraw the provision of free transport to denominational schools. I have examples of that happening in my own diocese. I doubt whether we can turn the clock back. However, while I welcome the Bill’s extension of the choice to two or three schools within a six-mile radius, I do not believe that it is enough. It is not sufficient to address the problem. The right reverend Prelate the Bishop of Portsmouth has raised this with the Secretary of State and I very much hope the Minister will recognise that in many rural communities, six miles is not very far. That means that the children of poorer families who wish to attend Church schools some miles from their home will be unable to do so as the provision of free denominational transport is gradually eroded. That, I believe, will be socially divisive; it would run directly against the Government’s policy of promoting diversity and inclusion. It would also undermine the Church’s clear intention to ensure that Church schools are not, as some of our critics have already suggested, socially exclusive. We need the Government’s help, and I hope that the Minister can reassure me.