§ MR. HENRY HOBHOUSE, (Sowersetshire, E.)To ask the President of the Local Government Board if he can now state in what cases he will be prepared to sanction the employment as school attendance officers of persons who are also employed by boards of guardians or district councils.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The question chiefly arises, I think, as regards relieving officers. The general principle upon which the Local Government Board have always acted has been that it is undesirable that a relieving officer should also be an officer of another local authority. Where, however, a relieving officer was a school attendance officer under a board of guardians, and has been transferred to a local education authority, I am willing that the arrangement should 257 continue, subject to its being determined if it should be found to work unsatisfactorily in the particular case. As regards new appointments, whilst I approve of the general principle above mentioned, I do not propose to insist on it where two appointments would involve undue expense, and where, apart from the objection referred to, there seems to be no substantial reason why the two offices should not be held by the same person. I should propose in these cases only to assent in the first instance for a limited time. As a general rule the relieving officer should not be called upon to discharge duties outside his relief district.