Meetings

The Committee considered further correspondence from the Minister for Economy and Transport and from the petitioner and agreed to close the petition, given that there appears to be little further action that it is able to take in relation to this issue. In doing so, the Committee wished to express its sincere sympathies to the petitioner and to share details of the petition with the Children, Young People and Education Committee.

The Committee considered further correspondence on the petition and agreed to write to the Minister for Economy and Transport to ask for details of relevant actions taken by Welsh Government since the Children’s Commissioner’s recommendation that the Learner Travel (Wales) Measure 2008 should be reviewed. The Committee also agreed to propose that safety for pupils travelling on public transport should be incorporated into such a review.

The Committee agreed to write to Children’s Commissioner for Wales to seek her views on the issues raised in the petition and ask for any reflections she has about the appropriateness and safety of children using public buses to travel to and from school.

The Committee considered correspondence from the Department for Transport and the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport. Members agreed to write again to the Department for Transport to reiterate that it is specifically seeking a response in relation to whether seatbelts should be required on public service buses and whether DBS checks should be required for public service bus drivers, which the Committee understands are not devolved.

The Committee considered correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport together with further comments from the petitioner and agreed to write to the UK Government Department for Transport to ask whether they have conducted a review into the provision of seatbelts on all buses transporting children and the need for all bus drivers to be DBS checked.

The Committee considered correspondence from the WLGA and agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Transport to ask what policy work has been undertaken to explore whether it is possible to strengthen current requirements so that:

·         children travelling to and from school on all buses should have a seat and a seat belt;

·         all drivers should have relevant DBS checks;

·         all buses should be fit for purpose.

In doing so, Members noted that they fully sympathised with the petition and share the ambition for dedicated, purpose-designed, school buses for school children, they recognised that it may not be possible for this policy ambition to be realised at this time.

The Committee discussed the lack of response from the Welsh Local Government Association to the Committee’s correspondence and agreed to write a further letter to the WLGA expressing their disappointment and asking for an urgent response to the letter of 24 July.

• The Committee considered correspondence from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure along with further comments from the petitioner and agreed to write to the Welsh Local Government Association to seek their views on the petition and the potential for local authorities to provide access to dedicated learner travel for all children (over and above the current statutory requirements), and to consider at that stage, whether to invite the petitioner to attend Committee to discuss the petition.

The Committee considered correspondence on the petition and agreed to write to the Cabinet Secretary for Economy & Infrastructure to ask if he will consider reviewing the distance criteria for dedicated home to school transport, or alternative measures to improve pupil safety when travelling to school.

The Committee considered the petition for the first time and agreed to contact the petitioner to clarify the objective of her petition, in light of the information received from the Cabinet Secretary for Economy and Infrastructure.