To ask His Majesty's Government what steps they are taking to make public transport more accessible for disabled children who require it to attend school.
Answered on
26 April 2023
The Government is clear that disabled students should be able to travel to school easily, confidently and without additional cost. The Department is taking steps to improve accessibility across public transport, particularly for buses and coaches, which will benefit families including those with disabled children, across the country.
In March, we laid the Accessible Information Regulations (AIR) in Parliament. Subject to Parliamentary approval, these new rules will require buses and coaches used on local services to provide audible and visible announcements. This will represent a significant step forward in the accessibility of these local services. While these new rules may not capture all home-to-school services, the Department also plans to undertake a Call for Evidence on the Public Service Vehicles Accessibility Regulations (PSVAR), the rules that transport providers must follow to make sure that vehicles are accessible, including many buses and coaches used for home-to-school services. This Call for Evidence is part of a wider review of the PSVAR and will allow disabled people and their families to tell the Department how well these regulations have worked, and what steps may need to be taken to improve accessibility for disabled passengers in the future.
These steps to make transport more accessible sit alongside existing local authority Special Educational and Disability (SEND) duties to provide free home-to-school transport for eligible students.