HC Deb 18 February 1897 vol 46 cc704-5
MR. WALTER HAZELL (Leicester)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether the remanded children, who are one of the classes for whom it is proposed to establish the new Metropolitan Children's Asylums' Board, under the Local Government Board, are already under the Home Office and the London School Board; and whether, seeing that it is through the action of the School Board that many of them are first apprehended, and that they are subsequently placed under the Home Office, he will consider the advisability of leaving the temporary provision for them in the hands of one or other of the authorities which already have to deal with them?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF TRADE (Mr. C. T. RITCHIE,) Croydon

Under the existing law the Guardians, and the Guardians alone, are responsible for the care and maintenance of children who, prior to the question of an order being made for removal to an industrial school being determined, are remanded to the workhouse. In many workhouses there is no suitable accommodation for these children, or only accommodation which does not properly provide for their being kept separate from other inmates. The provision of such accommodation for children of cither sex in each of the 30 Unions in the Metropolis, with the necessary staff for supervision, will entail a very considerable expenditure—an expenditure greatly in excess of what would be entailed by separate provision for children of the class referred to. The total number of such children for which provision would be required would probably be not more than 100 or 120.

MR. J. G. TALBOT (Oxford University)

I beg to ask the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been drawn to a conference of Guardians of the various Unions and parishes of the Metropolis, and the managers of the District Schools in the same area, to consider the proposed order for the formation of a new Board for the management of various classes of children chargeable to the rates, which has been announced to take place on Friday 26th inst.; and, whether he will give an assurance that he will take no final action in the matter until it has been fully considered by the representative bodies of London?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. HENRY CHAPLIN,) Lincolnshire, Sleaford

I am aware of the proposed conference of Guardians on the 26th inst., and I do not contemplate issuing the Order before that date.