School Transport

Mrs. Iris Robinson
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many taxis are being used to transport children to school in each education and library board area; and at what cost.

Maria Eagle
In 2004-05 the education and library boards used 1,393 taxis to transport pupils to and from school, at a total cost of £8,012,000, broken down in the following table.

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|                   |Number of taxis|Cost (£) |
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|Belfast board      |195            |633,000  |
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|North-Eastern board|259            |2,095,000|
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|South-Eastern board|298            |2,216,000|
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|Southern board     |335            |2,022,000|
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|Western board      |306            |1,046,000|
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Education and library boards only transport pupils via taxi where an existing bus service is not available and it is more cost effective to provide a taxi rather than introduce a new route. In addition, pupils with a statement of special needs may have specialised transport requirements that can only be met through the provision of a taxi. Medical experts make this decision and the requirement to provide transport via taxi is detailed on the pupil’s statement of special needs.

Mrs. Iris Robinson
To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland how many children have (a) been injured and (b) reported attacks by other children in shared taxis in the last two years, broken down by education and library board.

Maria Eagle
Four of the five education and library boards have confirmed that there have been no children reported injured by other children while travelling to and from school in shared taxis in the last two years. The Southern education and library board has also confirmed that there have been no serious injuries to children during this period but is not able to provide details of minor incidents.