“Home-to-school transport” should be renamed “assisted travel to school” to help manage parental expectations, MPs on the public accounts committee have been told.

While councils are committed to helping children entitled to support to get to school, it does not have to be “a door-to-door taxi service”, leading local authority figures have said.

One witness suggested there was “a legacy of Covid”, where lots of people were in single taxis for health reasons, which they are now reluctant to give up.

The committee was hearing evidence on Monday as part of a scrutiny session on the rising cost of home-to-school transport.

Local authorities are required to provide free transport for school-age children who cannot walk to their nearest suitable school due to distance, special educational ne

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