§ MR. GODDARD (Ipswich)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether the Board of Education have at any time expressed an opinion to the effect that a suitable playground is a necessary complement of an efficient school; and, if so, will he explain why they have continued to pay grants to voluntary schools unprovided with a suitable playground: and whether he will consider the advisability of introducing a Bill to confer the power of requiring the provision of playgrounds in non-provided schools upon local education authorities, or of amending Chapter III. of the Code so as to empower the Board to require the provision of a suitable playground in the case of schools.
1151 (Answered by Sir William Anson.) The Board require, and have required for a long time past, the provision of a playground in the case of all newly-erected schools. The Board do not make the provision of playgrounds an essential condition of the continued recognition of existing schools, but they strongly urge their provision, wherever possible. In many cases, owing to the situation of schools in large towns, and similar causes, the provision of a playground for a school long since erected is impossible without legal powers of compulsory purchase. The Government are not prepared to propose legislation to confer such powers, nor to carry out the proposal in the Question.