The Rt. Rev Ian Cundy, the Bishop of Peterborough, has made the call following several Local Education Authorities (LEA’s) reducing the number of services provided in the sector.
Rev Cundy was speaking in the House of Lords as it discussed the Education and Inspection Bill. He explained how many children in his own diocese had suffered as a result of the cuts by LEAs, and urged the government to provide more financial assistance.
He said, “In recent years a succession of local authorities have decided to disregard parents’ views and withdraw the provision of free transport to denominational schools.
“I doubt whether we can turn the clock back. However, while I welcome the Bill’s extension of the choice to two or three schools within a six-mile radius, I do not believe that it is enough.“That means that the children of poorer families who wish to attend Church schools some miles from their home will be unable to do so as the provision of free denominational transport is gradually eroded.
“That, I believe, will be socially divisive; it would run directly against the Government’s policy of promoting diversity and inclusion. It would also undermine the Church’s clear intention to ensure that Church schools are not, as some of our critics have already suggested, socially exclusive,” he said, according to the Church of England newspaper.
Responding to the Bishop, Education Minister, Lord Adonis, said the government was considering increasing the current “six-mile limit”, but were also “wrestling the matter” as the sums of money involved in doing so were “considerable”.
