HC Deb 20 May 1903 vol 122 cc1215-6
MR. MANSFIELD

I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education is he aware that the Education Committee of the Holland County Council, Lincolnshire, contains only twelve members out of twenty-eight who have been elected by the ratepayers; and that only five members are Nonconformists, while twenty-two are Churchmen, and four of these clerks in holy orders; and whether, in view of the fact that half of the people in the Holland Division are Nonconformists, he will take any, and if so, what steps, to induce the Holland County Council to grant an equal representation on the Education Committee.

SIR WILLIAM ANSON

The scheme for the Education Committee of the Holland County Council provides for the representation on the Committee of elementary, secondary and higher education, and also of agricultural education. All these branches of education are represented by persons recommended by bodies competent for the purpose. The three persons representing elementary education are to be appointed—one on the recommendation of the Lincolnshire Diocesan Voluntary Schools Association, one on the recommendation of the Councils of the Free Churches of the administrative county, and one on the recommendation of the Branch Associations of the National Union of Teachers within the said administrative, county. Thus the matters in respect of which the Act imposes any duty on the Board of Education are satisfactorily dealt with, and the Board cannot undertake to address the County Council as to the appointment by the Council of the individual members of the Committee under the provisions of the scheme.