§ LIEUT. COL. PRYCE-JONESTo ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether there is any provision in the Education Bill to meet difficulties which the local authorities will experience in obtaining the money required to carry on the public elementary schools in the interval which will elapse in the first year before the Government grants will be received.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) It is not anticipated that there will be any difficulties of the kind suggested in the Question, nor would any provision in the Education Bill be the proper way of meeting such difficulties were they likely to arise. It is not the case, as the wording of the Question would seem to suggest, that the Parliamentary Grants in respect of the public elementary schools in the area of an authority are not paid until the expiration of twelve months after the appointed day. Some of the grants are paid by quarterly instalments; and the annual grants in respect of the various schools in an area will be payable to the authority at varying dates throughout the year. Arrangements will also be made for an early disbursement of some portion of the new aid grant to authorities.