The proposals could increase car use, says a committee of MPs

The prime minister wants parents to have a bigger choice of good schools.

But the Labour-dominated Commons education select committee has said the government "seems confused" over its draft School Transport Bill.

In a report, it says low-income families are likely to lose out in choosing a school.

Main aim

The MPs say they are convinced urgent action is needed to counter the "rapidly worsening" home to school transport situation.

They talk of outdated legislation, spiralling costs and a worrying trend towards the use of private cars.

But they conclude that "the government seems confused as to the objectives of its draft Bill".

When the Education Secretary, Charles Clarke, gave evidence to them, he said its main aim was "the encouragement of people to go to their local neighbourhood school and, therefore, to travel less...".

This was "a question of our other policies on quality of schools".

It is hard to see how the bill will extend parental choice to low-income families Education select committee

The select committee's report says his interpretation "seems directly to conflict with government policies on diversity of schools and parental preference, which increase mobility".

They say the draft Bill gives children from poorer families no legal entitlement to free transport to any school other than their nearest.

"It is therefore hard to see how the Bill will extend parental choice to low-income families," they add.

This has become a key political issue, with both the Conservative Party and now Labour promising to increase the choice of good schools.

The MPs also said the draft proposal to allow local authorities to charge for bus services that were currently free could drive more families to take their children to school by car.

This would run counter to the stated intention of cutting car use - but a further criticism is that there is no evidence of reliable monitoring of pilot schemes in some areas.

Means-testing

At present, school transport is free to those living more than three miles away, or two in the case of under-eights, from the nearest appropriate school.

In the pilot areas, fares would instead be means-tested, on the basis of children's entitlement to free school meals.

But the committee said a more "sophisticated" indicator should be used.

A spokesperson for the Department for Education and Skills said it welcomed the committee's detailed consideration.

"We are pleased that the Education and Skills Select Committee agrees that action is urgently needed to improve home to school transport, and that current legislation is out of date.

"We shall now be looking carefully at the more detailed recommendations before responding to Parliament.

Action is urgently needed to improve home to school transport, and... current legislation is out of date Department for Education and Skills

"We are pleased that the committee has concluded that the central proposal - to pilot schemes tailored to local circumstances - is sound.

"We can only make major decisions on the Bill once we have had time to consider information from both Committee Reports and from the public consultation."

In a previous report the Commons transport committee accused ministers of taking a "leisurely approach" to curbing the school run and road congestion.

It also criticised standards among companies supplying school buses and called for the government to set a national minimum standard for contractors.