The Government has published a draft School Transport Bill, and a public consultation period has begun.  The aim of the bill is to reduce the use of cars for the school run, by encouraging local authorities to produce school travel plans which include a wider use of school buses, walking and cycling.

For those of you with an interest in school travel, here are some details taken from a briefing I received at work (published by Research in Practice):

The consultation document, draft Bill, draft explanatory notes, and draft partial regulatory impact assessment are at:

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/SchoolTravelProspectus.pdf

Draft Bills are published by the relevant government departments rather than Parliament, and receive detailed scrutiny by Committees  involving members from both Houses. They will return to Parliament at a later date to proceed through the full legislative process before becoming law.  The Draft School Transport Bill is out for public consultation with responses due by 25 June 2004. The Draft Bill is also being given pre-legislative scrutiny by the Education and Skills Select Committee.

'Travelling to school: an action plan' was published at the same time as the draft Bill:

http://www.dfes.gov.uk/consultations/downloadableDocs/4962-Travelling%20to%20School.pdf

This sets out the wider policy in this area, where legislative change is not required. This includes:
*       schools to develop travel plans
*       pedestrian and cycle training which can form part of PSHE
*       staggered school opening hours
*       secure cycle storage and lockers in schools and adequate cloakroom facilities
*       uniform and timetabling policies to support walking and cycling - backpacks rather than briefcases, timetables designed to minimise numbers of books needed
*       travel planning as part of the curriculum, eg in citizenship, ICT, PSHE, art, music and drama
*       resources to improve roads around school and safe routes to school through the Local Transport Plan.