Equality Bill [Lords]

In Committee, the hon. Member for Oxford, West and Abingdon (Dr. Harris) tabled similar amendments relating to guidance for school transport, which he then withdrew. In respect of school transport, the Bill contains exemptions for local education authorities and public authorities from the provisions on discrimination on the grounds of religion or belief. Local education authorities have a statutory requirement to provide free home-to-school transport for certain pupils and they also have some scope to decide when transport is necessary in other circumstances. Each pupil’s case will be considered on its merits, taking account of all relevant factors, including a parent’s wish that their child attend a school of the religion or denomination to which they adhere. That discretion means that LEAs often provide subsidised transport for pupils of a particular faith to attend a school of that faith located outside the local area. An exemption from the Bill’s discrimination provisions was included to ensure that that practice could continue. Otherwise, local education authorities would be vulnerable to challenge of transport policies that take into account the historical distribution of religious schools, which have often been built on out-of-town sites. I emphasise that local education authorities may—it is, indeed, our view that they should—provide subsidised transport to a non-faith school for a child whose parents are strongly opposed to their attending a faith school close to home. That, too, would be unlawful without the exception in the Bill.