To ask the Minister for Infrastructure to detail any departmental guidance that exists regarding the placement and safety of school bus pick-up and drop-off points, on rural roads.

Keeping children safe on their journeys to and from school is a priority for my Department. This is reflected in the dedicated Safer Journeys to School Programme, which is taking a wholesystem approach to improving safety.

As part of this programme, officials will be examining the safety of rural bus stops and the environments in which children wait for, board and alight from buses, including where factors such as visibility, lighting and road layout may increase risk.

A Bus Stop Design Guide was jointly issued by Roads Service and Translink in October 2005 -https://www.infrastructure-ni.gov.uk/sites/default/files/publications/drd/bus-stop-design-guide-october-2005-internal-017.pdf This document is currently under review for updating. The current guide covers formal bus stops and is primarily focused on the placement and physical layout of bus stops and guidance for Translink on signage.

When assessing requests for rural footway provision / extensions, my Department does take into consideration an assessment of children walking along roads to reach any particular bus stops. In the past, my Department has provided footways to formal bus stops from a nearby road junction, sometimes as part of a visibility splay improvement.