§ MR. MATHER (Lancashire, Rossendale)I beg to ask the Vice-President of the Committee of Council on Education whether he is aware that the Association of Technical Institutions has addressed a letter to the President of the Board, asking him to receive a deputation of that body to submit to him their views on the composition of the Consultative Committee appointed by him, and named in the Draft Order in Council now lying upon the Table of this House, and to call his attention to the fact that the Committee as constituted is wholly academic and includes no representative of the scientific, technical, and commercial industries of the country, in which the practical results of our system of national education have to be tested; whether this omission is intended to imply that the Board of Education will not seek from the Consultative Committee any assistance in determining and improving, from time to time, the character and quality of the whole system of our national education; whether it is the intention of the Board of Education to exclude all questions from the matters referred to the Committee by the Board; and whether, if this be the case, the Vice-President of the Board will explain to the House what are the functions and responsibilities (if any) which the Consultative Committee will be required to perform.
§ SIR J. GORSTThe answer to the first paragraph of the question is in the affirmative, and to the second and third paragraphs in the negative. The functions of the Consultative Committee are defined in the fourth Section of the Board of Education Act, 1899; they are:— (a) to frame regulations for a register of teachers and (b) to advise the Board of Education on any matter referred to the Committee by the Board.
§ MR. MATHERWill Section 4 cover such questions as the improvement of our system of national education?
§ SIR J. GORSTYes, if referred to the Committee by the Board.