A campaign to end the operation of minibuses by schools and colleges using Section 19 permits is gaining political backing after an Early Day Motion was tabled by Sarah Edwards MP in its support.
The Motion was put forward on 28 February and it recognises the 30th anniversary on 18 November 2023 of the M40 school minibus crash in which 12 children and a teacher died. Ms Edwards says that there “is still no legislation to ensure best practice in the use of school minibuses, and a repeat of that tragedy is a distinct possibility.”
She is a further public figure to call upon the government to ensure that all schools and colleges that use minibuses are required to hold an O-Licence, Ms Edwards also wants a common approach across state-funded and private educational establishments.
As of 10 March, four fellow Labour MPs, one DUP representative and an independent had signed the Motion. It was the subject of a briefing session in Portcullis House on 6 March.
That gathering also involved teaching union NASUWT and Liz and Steve Fitzgerald, whose daughter Claire was one of the children to die in the M40 crash. Preceding the Early Day Motion, in November 2023 Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald and NASUWT launched a call to action for change through the Come Home Safe campaign.
It is understood that backbenchers and frontbenchers alike attended the Motion briefing, and that shadow Minister for Local Transport Simon Lightwood was present. He is said to have been “cautiously supportive” of the work, and has committed to examine the wider campaign aims.
Call for change is backed by unions GMB, Unison and Unite. Concurrent with the Early Day Motion briefing, they and NASUWT published a joint guidance document on the use of minibuses by schools and colleges. They collectively say that the Section 19 regime “is not fit for purpose” when utilised by those establishments.
Stressed in the guidance is how the unions “strongly advise members not to drive school or college minibuses,” and that such tasks “should not be part of a teacher’s or support staff member’s contractual duty unless there is an explicit requirement to do so within their contract of employment.”
Driving of minibuses outside the UK by school and college staff should be refused “under all circumstances,” the document continues. Unions involved additionally advise their members in education to take advice from their respective representative body “immediately” should they be concerned about transporting pupils via any motor vehicle.
To accompany release of the guidance, NASUWT published figures that show around 10% of its teacher members have driven a minibus in the last year.
Of those, almost 25% say that they are sometimes pressurised to do so, and 12% say that they drive more than 50 miles after a full day of teaching “at least sometimes.” 26% say that they at least sometimes feel tired when driving a minibus.
NASUWT accepts that “much has been done” to improve the safety of school and college minibuses since the M40 tragedy, but it says that it is “deeply concerned” that the fundamental cause of that accident – a teacher driving when they should not have been – “remains unresolved.”
General Secretary Dr Patrick Roach adds that some of the union’s members driving children in minibuses are not trained to do so and that the overall situation “cannot be allowed to continue.” Dr Roach wants “concerted action” by ministers to prevent a repeat of the tragedy.
Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald – who have long campaigned for better safety standards in school minibuses – say that they “very much welcome” the unions’ stance. They add that the data collected by NASUWT indicates “that the situation in schools is worse than that described to us anecdotally over many years… Appallingly, little has changed since 1993.”
Continue Mr and Mrs Fitzgerald: “The [NASUWT] survey shows the impact of these poorer safeguards. This is outrageous. Therefore, we believe that many schools are inadvertently still playing Russian roulette with the lives of children, teachers and support staff, and also the general public.”
Change from government must come as a matter of urgency, the couple add. A public petition around the matter has been drawn up on the gov.uk website, but as of 10 March it was awaiting approval for publication.
In a related matter, Thérèse Coffey MP on 24 February again told Parliament that she intends to deploy a “Brexit bonus” to allow holders of all category B car driving licences to once more receive automatic entitlement to drive minibuses under category D1, and small goods vehicles via category C1.
Such entitlement currently only applies to those who passed a category B test before 1997. Ms Coffey says that her step would “support rural communities and… unlock economic growth opportunities,” with particular relevance to community transport operators.
The guidance issued by the four unions on minibus use by schools and colleges notes that D1 entitlement should be a minimum requirement to drive a minibus and that a category B car licence is “insufficient in all circumstances.”
