1. Questions to the First Minister – in the Senedd on 28 June 2022.
2. First Minister, how does the Welsh Government ensure that the cost of public transport does not adversely affect the attendance of primary and secondary pupils? OQ58258
I thank Heledd Fychan. Llywydd, primary pupils who live further than 2 miles from school and secondary pupils under the age of 16 who live further than 3 miles from school receive free school transport. An initial review of the learner travel Measure was published on 31 March, and a more detailed review will now follow.
Thank you. With the cost-of-living crisis placing additional pressures on parents and carers, more people are contacting my office with regard to the impact of the cost of transport on attendance. This was emphasised further when Ruben Kelman, a Member of the Youth Parliament for Cardiff North, contacted me a week ago, sharing the results of a survey at Llanishen High School, where parents were asked about their experience of school transport. Frighteningly, 39 per cent of parents noted that their child had had to miss school because they weren't able to afford the cost of the bus. The majority of these pupils were living just under that threshold of 3 miles, which is the threshold for free transport. It was noted that one pupil had lost nine days this year and had lost 15 the previous year because her family weren't able to afford the cost of the bus. These were the words of one parent:
'Over the last few months, I have analysed what bills can be delayed in paying, so my daughter can attend school. It's soul destroying. Please help us parents.'
So, First Minister, how is the Welsh Government going to help parents and carers who can't afford public transport?
Well, I thank Heledd Fychan for those important points. As she herself said, we can see the cost of living increasing almost every week. Last week, the Office for National Statistics published their monthly figures, which demonstrated that the cost of living has gone up 9.1 per cent. in May, but that transport costs had increased by 13.8 per cent in that same period. So, we can see, of course, the impact that that has on people the length and breadth of Wales. I have seen the report, published following the work done at the school in Llanishen, and, of course, it's important to hear what respondents to that research said. There's more than one way to resolve the problems that were raised. It's important that we do more to help people who live within the catchment to walk or cycle or to have a safe route to school. We, as a Government, will invest more than £200,000 in those programmes over the next three years.
But, at the end of the day, I have to tell the Member and other Members that we only have one pot of money as a Government. When we agree our priorities, we do have to pursue those priorities. And our priority, in the agreement with Plaid Cymru, is to use the new funding that we have in order to provide free school meals to all primary aged children. Now, when we have such priorities and only one pot of money available, well, we will have to pursue those things that we have agreed on first.
First Minister, whilst it is correct for us to understand this important issue with regard to primary and secondary school pupils, we also have to be aware that post-16 learners also rely heavily on public transport to attend colleges and universities, and apprentices have to pay travel costs not only to college, but also to their place of work. I am sure you are aware that there are increasing concerns for post-16 learners where local authorities have discretionary travel arrangements, because discretionary travel arrangements have been affected as a result of local authorities facing tough financial decisions. As you have stated, a commitment has been given to review and consult on the learner travel guidance this year, but this has been delayed. First Minister, firstly, what assessment has the Welsh Government made of the impact of the rise in transport costs on post-16 learners and how could this assessment feed into the learner travel Measure? And, secondly, can you provide an update on when the review of the learner travel Measure will be taking place? Thank you.
I thank Joel James for those questions. The more detailed review of the learner travel Measure is happening at the moment, in the sense that the detailed planning for the review is being carried out over the next few weeks, and we've agreed with our local authority colleagues that the work with them on that review will follow in the autumn term. A strand in that review will be a more detailed focus on the needs of young people in post-16 education. We are reviewing with our local authority colleagues the impact of rising fuel costs on their ability to carry out their duties to provide school and college transport. It's a complex matter.
We received a letter the end of last week from the chair of the Welsh Local Government Association, Councillor Andrew Morgan. He sets out in his letter that, where local authorities are having to retender these services—sometimes because contracts have been handed back because firms aren't able to carry on trading under current conditions—the new tenders are coming in anywhere between 30 per cent to 40 per cent higher than the tenders that they are replacing. But all local authorities are in a different position, Llywydd. Some have relatively new contracts, some are relying on contracts that have been struck a long time ago, some contracts have annual renewable mechanisms in them, others don't have that at all. What the WLGA proposes is that they should collect further and more detailed information about the impact that school transport services are having to absorb from the rising cost of petrol and other transport measures, and then we will have further discussions with them as to what, if anything, the Welsh Government is able to do to assist.