§ MR. HUMPHREYS-OWEN (Montgomeryshire)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education if he will state 683 what steps the Board have taken, or will take, to make it clear to local education authorities that suggestions made by the Board or any of its officers before formal publication of draft schemes to local education authorities, or to any persons acting on behalf of such authorities, are hortatory only and not mandatory.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) The Board, at the commencement of this year, sent a Memorandum to the local education authorities stating what were the requirements of the Act, and what were the duties of the Board in respect of schemes. Later, in response to various applications, the Board sent to the local education authorities a Memorandum containing suggestions as to the various modes in which Education Committees might be formed and constituted. The Board do not think that there is any opening for the sort of misconstruction suggested in the Question.