SIR W. HART DYKE (Kent, Dartford)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that certain expenditure upon a new cloak-room at Highbury Vale School has been disregarded by the Department as not legitimate under Article 90 of the Code; whether, in addition to this fine upon the resources of the school, very long delay has taken place in the payment of grant; and whether he will state the reason for this long delay, and the decision in regard to the cloak-room?
MR. ACLANDThe grant to this school, which was inspected on the 29th of January, has now been paid. The delay in the case was mainly due to the managers having included in their accounts a sum not specified representing the cost of building a new cloak-room, and having afterwards placed the case in the hands of the Diocesan Board of Education instead of withdrawing the sum from the accounts. The right hon. Gentleman must, I think, be well aware that the cost of structural additions to a school is, and always has been, disallowed under the Code as expenditure in the accounts of the school. There has been no fine on the resources of the school, the full grant having been paid.