§ DR. MACNAMARA (Camberwell, N.)I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether it would be competent, in connection with the new model by-laws affecting attendance at religious instruction in the elementary schools, for local authorities to enact that religious instruction shall be given at the close of a school session; and whether such a course would be competent both in respect of non-provided schools as well as provided schools.
§ THE PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY TO THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Sir WILLIAM ANSON,) Oxford UniversityThe time or times at which religious or other instruction should be given in a school should be regulated in the time table. The power to make by-laws is limited to the purposes specified in Section 74 of the Act of 1870. The time or times for religious instruction are prescribed in Section 7 (2) of that Act; and under Section 7 (1) (a) of the Act of last year the directions as to secular instruction which may be given by a local authority to the managers of a voluntary school must not be such as to interfere with reasonable facilities for religious instruction during school hours.