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The Government has pledged to improve social mobility - removing the barriers stopping those from a disadvantaged background reaching their full potential. But while the talk is big, it is sad to think of the huge potential of children being wasted, right across the country. I suspect you could take a cross-section of children from any primary school in the country, put them into a selective school, and they would do pretty much as well as most of those who managed to pass the 11-plus.

Anyway, the Tories think selective schools, of which Devon has several, can help social mobility, and last year it looked like steps were being taken to improve access.

The Chancellor Philip Hammond announced in his Spring Budget in March 2017, that underprivileged children living between two and 15 miles from a selective school would get free transport, increasing the limit from six miles.

(Image: PA)

And it was excellent news for one parent in South Devon, who has had to rely on a charity to pay their children’s bus fares. They waited to hear more. And waited. After all, it would only put travel funding for grammar schools in line with faith schools.

More than a year later, nothing has changed. The charity which has covered the £750 a year costs per child for this family says it can’t continue. The school won't help. Now what?

The Government seems to think grammar schools are a good thing, and has come up with £50m for selective schools to bid for so they can expand.

But it hasn’t been able to force local authorities like Devon to change their policy in line with Mr Hammond’s announcement. So that’s a Conservative-run local authority, in a county with Conservative MPs, not carrying out the policy of a Conservative government - because it doesn’t have to. And yes, it all comes down to money.

The Department for Education told one parent: “In the absence of an education bill, we are currently unable to legislate to extend local authorities’ existing transport duties to require them to provide free transport to selective schools. We are, therefore, still considering how best to proceed with the £5.5 million allocated by the chancellor.”

(Image: Getty Images)

A Devon County Council spokesman told me: “The Government hasn’t enacted the legislation to enable that change in policy, so there has not yet been any funding for that purpose.

"The situation remains that a child can receive free transport to their nearest secondary school if it is over the statutory 3 mile walking distance, or if the family is on a qualifying low income and the school is one of the three nearest between 2 and 6 miles from home. In this situation, neither requirement is the case.”

You might think this is a small issue. And you’re right. But, as the saying goes, the Devil is in the detail. That means the details matter.Think about this - if the Government says it’s going to do something then fails to deliver, how much can we trust them on the bigger issues?

And what about the talented children in Devon who won’t even consider applying to a grammar school, because their families can’t afford the bus fare?

Our education system is far from perfect, and I suspect in many cases grammar schools are now largely filled with offspring of the wealthy who see them as a cheap route to a good education rather than paying privately. Buy a house in the right place, pay for a private tutor, and already you’ve got an advantage over the naturally talented children from families who are struggling to make ends meet.

Although I know of several cases where children from modest backgrounds have been successfully through the grammar system, including in my own family, maybe ultimately they are part of the social mobility problem, rather than the solution - especially if the schools themselves won’t help the underprivileged children who have the ability but not the means to study there.