§ MR. TALBOT (Oxford University)I beg to ask the Vice President of the 997 Committee of Council on Education whether it is the practice of the Department to refuse grants to small rural schools under Article 105, although the population within a radius of two miles is under 500, on the ground that the population of the civil parish in which the school is situate exceeds that number; whether he is aware that this practice excludes many schools quite as necessitous as many which receive such grants; and whether the opinion of the Law Officers has been taken as to this practice being in accordance with the Education Code?
§ MR. ACLANDIf the hon. Member refers to the Article in question, he will see that the claim for a grant may be made on either alternative—of the population of the school district, or of the population within two miles of the school by the nearest road. There is not, and has not ever been, any such practice as that stated in the question.