HC Deb 16 May 1904 vol 134 c1384
MR. ATHERLEY-JONES (Durham, N. W.)

I beg to ask the Secretary to to the Board of Education, whether his attention has been called to the fact that the Education Committee of the London County Council has resolved that at the sittings of that committee the public and the pre-s shall be excluded; whether it be the practice of educational committees in the provinces to so hold their sittings in private; whether the Education Board have sanctioned that decision of the Education Committee of the London County Council; and, if not, whether he will make representations to the committee of the views of the Board of Education.

SIR WILLIAM ANSON

I am aware that the London County Council have resolved that the public and the Press shall be excluded from the meetings of their Education Committee. The publicity of the meetings of education committees is a matter of procedure which every local authority regulates for itself. The Board of Education have reason to believe that the education committees in the provinces usually held their sittings in public, but the procedure of local authorities in the conduct of their business is not a subject for sanction or representation by the Board.