THE first changes to the law on school transport in more than half a century may follow a Government study of the links between transport and social exclusion. A report from the Social Exclusion Unit in the Cabinet Office criticises the rule that free transport is only provided where pupils live more than three miles from the nearest suitable school. It said this causes hardship to poorer families living between one and three miles from the school and restricts their choice of school while subsidising the better off. Some pound;500m is spent annually on home to school transport.

Email: transportandsocialexclusion@cabinet-office.x.gsi.gov.uk