§ MR. H. HOBHOUSE (Somerset, E.)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education if he will explain on what grounds the Science and Art Department have refused to sanction the expenditure of public money by the County Councils acting under the Technical Instruction Acts on the training of sick nurses in hospitals and institutions, although they allow payment for lectures on sick nursing; and whether, in view of the great importance of providing properly trained nurses for the poor, especially in the country districts, the Department will re-consider and modify their decision?
§ *THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir WILLIAM HART DYKE, Kent, Dartford)By the 8th section of the Technical Instruction Act, technical instruction is declared not to include teaching the practice of any trade or industry or employment; and, therefore, the Department could not sanction the expenditure of money by the County Councils on what is avowed to be the training of sick nurses. Lectures on sick nursing, or instruction on its principles, are not open to the same objection. The Department, while fully realising the importance of providing properly trained nurses for the poor, is unable to modify its decision in view of the terms of the Act.