§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONI beg to ask the Vice President of the Committee of Council on Education whether, up to the passing of "The Free Education Act, 1891," charges for books in elementary schools were allowed by the Department; whether, in ascertaining the amount of fee under the Act of 1891, any account was taken of the book fee; whether, since the passing of that Act, the Department has issued an Order informing managers that a fee for books is contrary to the Free Education Act; and whether, in the case of schools where a book fee separate from the instruction fee was charged in the determining year, he will consider the necessity of revising the calculation upon which the fee now chargeable has been fixed, by adding the average book fee to the excess of the instruction fee over 10s. per child?
§ THE VICE PRESIDENT OF THE COUNCIL (Mr. ACLAND,) York, W.R., RotherhamAs I have already informed the hon. Member, charges for books were treated as distinct from fees until the agreement between the Education Department and the Audit Department was confirmed by the Public Accounts Committee. But this decision was not arived at in consequence of the Act of 1891. The Department has always held, both before and after the Act of 1891, that managers could not compel a child to pay for books in addition to the fee. The revision suggested in the last paragraph of the question, so far as regards charges for the use of books, has been made in all schools that have claimed it.
§ MR. STANLEY LEIGHTONMay I ask whether the Department before 1891 informed managers that it could not report in favour of a school receiving a grant in cases where charges were made for books; or were parents informed that books need not be paid for?
§ MR. ACLANDYes, Sir.