Faith bias row in school transport

Parents have complained the policy is unfair

A county council is being accused of religious discrimination because it gives bus passes to pupils attending faith schools - except Church of England schools.

Parent Alan Whaites has complained that it is a breach of the European Convention on Human Rights.

The stated policy says: "The authority offers assistance with travel expenses to pupils whose parents express a first preference for a voluntary aided secondary school, Roman Catholic voluntary aided primary and middle school, provided it is the nearest or designated school ..."

It adds: "It is not possible to provide assistance for pupils attending Church of England aided or controlled primary or middle schools."

Reasons unclear

Mr Whaites says this is unfair.

"I have a child at an Anglican school in Northampton and because it's an Anglican school the county council won't subsidise transport for children more than two and a half miles away, although if it was a different faith-based school they would," he said.

"Under the European Convention there's a clear provision that authorities should try to help parents to ensure that their children can be taught in the faith of the family."

Northamptonshire's cabinet member for schools, Olwen Loud, said the reasons appeared to be historical.

Fairness

"We think it's a leftover from the time when an awful lot of Church of England schools were available to parents who wanted an Anglican-based education.

"It was an attempt to try to make a level playing field so that Roman Catholic parents could also have a reasonable expectation of sending their children to a faith school.

"We are at present looking at all our home-to-school transport arrangements."

But it was not reasonable to suddenly stop the subsidy for pupils who might be halfway through a GCSE course.

"I think it's something we would want to consult with communities on rather than be high-handed about."

'Blatant'

Cllr Loud said she thought the practice discriminatory only in the sense that any discretionary award was.

"We are probably the most generous local education authority in terms of home to school transport in the country."

She would rather spend less on that and more on improving schools.

The Liberal Democrat MEP for the East Midlands, Nick Clegg, called her explanation "slightly bizarre".

"This is a blatantly discriminatory policy," he said.

"It flies in the face of and I think contradicts all European and UK anti-discrimination legislation and whether the council's had this policy by accident or design is not really relevant."

Mr Clegg said the remedy was to give bus passes to all children attending faith-based schools.