§ MR. T. ELLIS (Merionethshire)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether the Report of the Education Department 308 for the school year ending on August 31 in one year is only presented to Parliament in the August of the following year, at the end of, and sometimes even after, the Parliamentary Session; when the Report for the school year ending August 31, 1890, will be published; and whether, in future, the annual Report can be published within six months after the end of the school year?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE, Kent, Dartford)The Blue Book, as a whole, is not issued till August, but many of its parts are distributed much earlier. The Report for the year ending August, 1890, has already been circulated, and the preparation of the remaining Appendices is being proceeded with as expeditiously as possible. The Chief Inspector's Reports sometimes do not come in for six months, and the Appendix dealing with the accounts of School Boards cannot be prepared until the audits for their year, which only ends on September 30, are complete, and these audits are often protracted till late in the spring, so that the hon. Member will see the impossibility of materially accelerating the production of the full Report; but every effort will be made in that direction.