§ MR. ERNEST GRAY (West Ham, N.); I beg to ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether a local education authority can refuse to admit to schools maintained by such authority children who are boarded in the union workhouse when such workhouse is situated within the area of that authority; and whether, if the workhouse in question be not the property of the council in whose area it is situated, the local authority may require the council maintaining the workhouse of make contribution on behalf of the expenses involved in educating these children.
§ SIR WILLIAM ANSONIt is the duty of the guardians to provide for the education of the children under their charge. By Section 2 of the Elementary Education Act, 1900, the guardians may arrange to perform their duty by contributing to the cost of their education at a public elementary school. The Board would, as a general rule, hold that the local authority would be justified in refusing to admit a child, even though there was room in the school, unless the guardians were prepared to make a contribution towards the cost of educating the child.