§ MR. ERNEST GRAY () West Ham, N.To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether grants under The Voluntary Schools Act, 1897, and under Section 97 of The Elementary Education Act, 1870, as amended by The Elementary Education Act, 1897, will continue to be paid until the date on which the new local education authority becomes responsible for the maintenance of elementary schools within the area of that authority; and, whether, having regard to the fact that the aid grants usually paid to voluntary schools in one sum to be expended during twelve months, and that the managers of voluntary schools have been encouraged to incur expenditure in anticipation of such aid grant being received, the Board of Education will make to such schools aid grant payments for any period which may elapse between the close of the school year and the date on which the new authority becomes responsible for maintenance; and whether the provisions of Clauses 11 and 12, Second Schedule of the Education Bill, apply to the above-mentioned grants as well as to the ordinary Parliamentary grant.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) In answer to the first and second paragraphs of the Question, I may say that both the grants named will continue to be payable up to the "appointed day." The answer to the third paragraph is in the affirmative.