§ MR. CUBITT (Surrey, Epsom)I beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education if it is correct that complaints have been made that children attending the Hersham School, a public elementary school under the School Board of Walton-on-Thames, have been compelled to receive religious instruction in contravention of the Conscience Clause of the Education Act; whether the Hersham School has been declared inefficient in consequence of the result of the last examination; and what steps have been taken with respect to the Walton School Board under these circumstances by the Education Department?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Sir W. HART DYKE,) Kent, DartfordAlthough the direct responsibility of the Board was not proved, breaches of the Conscience Clause did in effect occur in one or two instances some time ago, and the Department is now engaged upon the investigation of another charge under the same section of the Act. It is also the case that the Hersham Boys' School has been declared inefficient. The Department has no intention that the Board should evade its duty either in regard to the Conscience Clause or as to maintaining its schools in a state of efficiency; and unless its procedure is thoroughly reformed, it may render itself liable to default.