Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has come to the defence of model and businesswoman Katie Price in the row over school transport for her disabled son.

Multi-millionaire Price has come under fire after revealing that the cost of son Harvey's transport to and from school is covered by a local authority.

Her housemate on Channel 5's Celebrity Big Brother Katie Hopkins described the arrangement as "tricky, when you could afford it yourself", while Ms Price was attacked by other critics online.

But Mr Clegg said that he would be "reluctant" to ditch the principle of universal free access to education for disabled children in Harvey's case, and dismissed suggestions that Price should be required to move home and live nearer to his school to reduce transport costs which the model estimated could reach £1,000 a day if she had to fund it herself.

The Deputy Prime Minister told LBC radio: "We, as a society, think there are some things we should provide universally to everybody. We make the NHS available to everybody, paupers or multi-millionaires, regardless of their wealth, based on need not ability to pay.

"I think this may well be one of those areas where most people think, on balance, it is better to provide it universally. Of course, it means you get cases like that of Katie Price.

"But I would be pretty reluctant to say, on the facts of this individual case, we should therefore throw out the idea of universally treating all children with disabilities with the same kind of compassion and support everywhere we can."

Harvey is blind and has a range of other disabilities including autism, ADHD and Prader-Willi syndrome.

Ms Price's team issued a statement saying: "The cost of the school placement together with transport is not means-tested as it is provided for the child. Local authorities do not have special needs schools locally as these have been closed during the last 15 years as it was deemed a cheaper option to transport children out of borough.

"If Harvey's school was on his doorstep as with schools for healthy children then this would not apply, but it was the Government's choice to close the special needs schools.

"The education law states that the local authority must provide transport to and from the school that is named in the statement. This must be appropriate to the child's needs and include the provision of an escort - in Harvey's case a nurse - who is trained to cope with the child's medical needs."

Asked whether Price should be required to reduce the cost of the transport by moving closer to Harvey's school, Mr Clegg said: "The idea that we should instruct parents of disabled children to move house, I don't see how on Earth that would work."