PARLIAMENTARY WRITTEN QUESTION
Parliament: Educational Visits (25 October 2016)

There are currently no immediate plans to review the travel subsidy for schools visiting the House. The next scheduled review is to follow after the conclusion of the boundary review (the banding of the subsidy is based on constituencies).

Prior to the introduction of the subsidy 69.4% of visiting schools came from London and the South East (Band A), where in the financial year 2015/2016 this fell to 49% from that band.

When deciding the current levels of transport subsidies several different factors were taken into account, which included considerations around distance and reasonable spend, as well as the overall budget available to Parliament to offer the subsidy. The overarching aim of the scheme is to encourage as many schools as possible from outside of the south east England region to attend.

The levels of transport subsidies are set by the Administration Committee. The Committee agreed to raise the levels in line with transport inflation in March 2013, and continues to keep them under review in order to make the subsidy as beneficial as possible, especially to schools from further afield.