Reply from Alan Beith this morning Dear Susan Calvert Thank you for contacting me about the decision by the Labour-led Northumberland council to scrap free transport for post 16 students traveling to and from school or college. I am sorry for the delay in replying; your email had been caught in a spam filter. I am appalled that our young people and their families have had this charge imposed on them. I and my fellow Liberal Democrats in Northumberland, along with parents, teachers, school governors and many other people across the county, have been working hard to oppose this change, which discriminates against young people and their families from rural areas like ours where many young people live too far from school or college to walk or cycle. When the Liberal Democrats took control of the Council in 2008, one of the first acts was to scrap the existing charge for post-16 transport and ensure it was free for students and their families. I am extremely concerned that the consultation on proposed changes attracted many responses against the introduction of charges and yet the Labour Council made the decision to introduce charges just a few days after the consultation closed, meaning they spent very little time considering the responses. The Council had also promised to take into account the views of more than 900 people who signed the petition against any charges, presented to the Council by fellow Liberal Democrat Julie Pörksen through their own petition procedures. The consultation also proposed a charge of £450, yet when the Labour councillors from south east Northumberland voted to introduce a charge this set at a massive £600 – that works out at £20 per week during term time. A Council meeting where discussion could have taken place has been cancelled. But thanks to pressure from Liberal Democrat councillors, there will be Special Council Meeting at 9.30am on Friday 11 July 2014. I and my Liberal Democrat colleagues across the county feel that the decision to introduce charges is unfair. When the Liberal Democrats ran the Council from 2008, we scrapped the charge for post-16 transport and made sure that students could have free transport to the school or college which they felt was the best place for them to continue their education, and provided the course they wanted – even if this meant providing train passes for Newcastle to students from Berwick. Charging for post-16 transport penalises hard working students who are now required to study to 18 and who have been making choices about where to continue to study from September, only to find out they now have to pay a significant charge for transport. This may also mean young people cannot study at their preferred college or sixth form. I and local Liberal Democrat campaigner Julie Pörksen are talking to ministers to try to get help for our young people and to force our Labour Council to overturn this decision. I am tabling a Motion in the House of Commons and Julie is developing a new policy. We are working towards making sure Labour councils cannot make decisions like this again and is part of the wider Liberal Democrat proposal to ring-fence education spending for ages 2-19 from 2015. I have also tabled an Early Day Motion in the House of Commons condemning the introduction of the charges. I will keep you informed about progress in this issue. Thank you again for taking the time to get in touch. Yours sincerely Sir Alan Beith MP Dr Clare Mills Senior Parliamentary Assistant to Rt. Hon. Sir Alan Beith, MP for Berwick upon Tweed Constituency Office, 54 Bondgate Within, Alnwick NE66 1JD Tel: 01665 602901 | Fax: 01665 604435 | Mob: 07795 662742 AlanBeith.org.uk
Posted on: Thu, 03 Jul 2014 11:05:18 +0000
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