HC Deb 21 March 1898 vol 55 cc395-6
MR. J. HERBERT LEWIS (Flint Boroughs)

I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether his attention has been drawn to the formation of a limited liability company at Eastbourne to build schools and let them at a profit to voluntary managers; whether he is aware that the prospectus of the company contemplates that the schools it builds shall pay, from, the various Parliamentary Grants, an annual sum equal to five per cent. on the cost of construction; and whether the Parliamentary Grant for education can be legally applied in providing a commercial interest on capital?

SIR JOHN GORST

Yes. The Scheme, of which a copy has been sent to the Education Department, contemplates the Parliamentary Grants being used to pay a rent for the school. Unless the proposed buildings are held in trust for educational purposes, such application of the grants would not be illegal.