A highly anticipated report into government provision of school transport in Northern Ireland has been published by the Department of Education.

The Independent Review of Home to School Transport is aimed at cutting the cost of providing transport for Northern Irish schoolchildren, which currently stands at around £100 million per year.

The present system provides free transport for all children whose nearest school is over two miles away for primary pupils, or three miles away for secondary pupils. They are eligible regardless of whether they attend their nearest school or not.

The report recommends that transport should only be funded to the pupil’s nearest school, even if they do not attend it. It is not known whether education minister John O’Dowd will accept the recommendation.

Due to the many different types of school in Northern Ireland, journeys to and from school are on average three miles longer than in the rest of the UK.