Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
1953
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Schools : eighth report from the Select Committee on Estimates together with the Minutes of Evidence taken before Sub-Committee E and Appendices, Session 1952-1953. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a ren pein seen renee tml _ Expenditure of both sorts must be regarded as a permanent feature of the educa- tional system, although the number of children involved will vary as new schools are built and existing schools are reorganised. 4. In addition, local education authorities may, and at the present time often do, provide transport to meet a temporary difficulty. The shift of population involved in most large scale new housing means that an authority may have an acute shortage of school places in one part of their area at the same time as there are empty places in schools in other parts. If new schools are not built quickly enough in the new housing areas, the authority must provide transport to places where there is room in the schools, or there may be an interval of time during which such an arrangement would in any case be reasonable, e.g. there may not yet be enough older children on the new estate to justify the provision of a secondary school. 5. Twice during the last three years local education authorities have been asked to review their arrangements for school transport. (i) Circular 210, dated 28th October, 1949, stated (paragraph 9) “. . . the Minister considers that economies [in transport] could reasonably be made, particularly in urban areas, and without exposing the children to undue traffic dangers, where children are being transported over less than the minimum distances laid down in Section 39 (5) of the 1944 Act”. (ii) Circular 242, dated 7th December, 1951, stated (paragraph Sisal secaull ee number of areas children are being conveyed free to school over distances less than the statutory minima laid down in Section 39 (5) of the Education Act, 1944. In present circumstances the Minister does not regard this as justifiable, though she will be prepared to consider quite exceptional cases where the authority can satisfy her that special justification exists, e.g. because of serious traffic dangers and the special needs of handicapped children. Authorities should also consider the desirability of making greater use of the facilities offered by Section 55 (2) for the partial payment of fares in the case of children who require transport in order to attend a school of their parents’ choice other than the nearest to their homes ”’. The Minister’s view remains as expressed in Circular 242; that local education authorities should base their general arrangements on the statutory walking distance defined in Section 39 (5) of the Education Act, 1944, and should not make more generous provision except where there are exceptional circumstances ; and that parents who choose a school other than the nearest should make some contribution to the travelling expenses if they can afford it. 6. In one respect, however, the Minister has been obliged to adopt a policy involving increased expenditure on transport. Paragraph 10 of Circular 245, dated 4th February, 1952, dealing with the educational building programme, stated: “Similarly it will not be possible to build schools to serve new housing developments where, by the use of transport or by the adjustment of catchment areas, the children from the new houses can for the time being be accommodated in existing schools”. The context makes clear that the reference is to cases in which it will not be possible to build a school as soon as would, under easier conditions, be desirable. In other words, local education authorities may in some cases be compelled to adopt for a time the expedient described in paragraph 4 above of transporting children to schools which have room instead of building new schools. It is the policy of the Goyernment that the school building programme should, in general, keep pace with the housing programme. The problem is primarily one of timing ; although close contact is maintained between housing and education authori- ties both centrally and locally, the housing provision in a particular area may be so extensively and rapidly expanded that the new schools cannot be provided in time. There will, therefore, be cases in which the speed of housing development and the need to restrict capital investment make it necessary to adopt this alternative expedient. Naturally, such cases are kept down to the smallest possible number, and the probable cost of transport in each case is among the factors which are considered. It was never contemplated that transport should be used as a matter of set policy in default of new building where long distances or large numbers of children are involved. 7. This may, however, sometimes happen as the following example illustrates. In one area, where schools approved by the Ministry and included in a building pro- gramme have not been built fast enough, over four hundred senior pupils are being