Part of 1. Questions to the Minister for Education – in the Senedd at 1:35 pm on 27 November 2019.
Can I very much welcome the review on post-16 education transport, but also the engagement that I know that is going on at the moment between the Minister and the Deputy Minister for Economy and Transport on active travel, on some imaginative thinking on that joint working? But could I ask, beyond those short journeys to school, for which we need to encourage more children to actually get on their bikes and scooters, or walk, quite frankly, and the family and parents as well, in terms of transport by bus, are we open in Welsh Government to thinking of different solutions, as they have in different countries? When I visited Finland last year, and when you look at places like Canada, who are doing this as well, where actually they develop the independence within young people, from a quite young age—and it's not appropriate for everyone, or in every situation—they actually travel to school on public transport. Now, this isn't for everyone, in every situation, particularly in rural areas, and it relies on a very good public transport network as well. But it is interesting that it can be done elsewhere. So, do we include that within our thinking, going forward, if people wanted to take up that option, or including local authorities, which I understand, in Scotland, as well, where, instead of school transport vouchers, or funding for an individual, they offer to actually buy the bike.