The Government has pledged to continue funding for local authority school travel advisers, after MPs questioned their value for money.
The transport select committee recently called into question the benefits of school travel plans and advisers (Surveyor, 26 March 2009), given that the project aims to produce a modal shift of only 1% between 2004 and 2011.
But in its response, the Government report said such targets – which it said were not formally set within the scheme – were set against a ‘very strong background of car growth’. In Merseyside, it said, the 2.4% reduction in car use in schools with a school travel plan over the past five years contrasted with a 5% increase in other schools without a plan.
‘The Department for Transport (DfT) is of the view that there should be some form of continued funding for local authority school travel advisers and regional school travel advisers after 2010-11, when the current funding comes to an end,’ the Government said.
It admitted there had been occasions when the plans had failed to deliver any benefits, ‘but the fact that so many schools have produced them suggests schools have found them valuable’.
The report also downplayed the benefits of yellow school bus (YSB) services, citing evidence that the levels of demand and switching from car ‘are unlikely to be as high in a nationwide roll out as that assumed by the YSB Commission (Surveyor, 18 September 2008)’.
But the Government assured it was working with the sector to identify examples of good practice for running dedicated school transport to be included in guidance that will form part of the local transport best practice handbook.
It acknowledged there had been limited co-ordination and planning between government departments in relation to transport planning associated with 14-19 Diplomas. It pledged to work more closely across departments in the second year of Diploma delivery.
School travel: Government response to the committee’s second report of session 2008-09
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