HC Deb 02 March 1903 vol 118 cc1097-8
DR. MACNAMARA

To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that, owing to the delay in the payment of the Block Grant by the Board of Education, difficulty will be caused by the shortage of municipal cash at the outset of operations under the Education Act; whether he is aware that this shortage will amount approximately in the residue of the County of Lancashire to £80,000, and in most of the urban districts in that county, which will be autonomous for elementary education, to sums which will vary from £1,000 to £6,000; and whether, in view of the burdens thus cast upon most of the new authorities, the Board of Education can see its way to pay the whole of the Block Grant by quarterly instalments, including grants that will become due after the end of the Government's financial year.

(Answered by Sir William Anson.) The Board of Education are aware of the difficulty to which reference is made in the first part of the Question, but they have no exact knowledge of the amounts of shortage in different areas. I do not desire either to dispute or to admit the figures put down by the hon. Member. The Board are unable "to pay the whole of the Block Grant by quarterly instalments, including grants that will become due after the end of the Government's financial year." because their disbursements are restricted to the sums voted by Parliament for the financial year. This provision only covers the payment in the year of Block Grants maturing for payment within the year, and upon these instalments will be paid as far as practicable; but there is no margin for payment of instalments on "Block Grants" maturing in the succeeding year. The Board have already stated what they are prepared to do to assist the new authorities as regards the time of payments of the Aid Grant and Block Grant. For any further assistance the local authorities may apply to the Local Government Board to enable them to spread over a period of years the charge which is necessary in order to provide them with a working balance.