§ MR. GEORGE WHITE (Norfolk, N. W.)To ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to a leaflet issued by the Emergency League in which it is stated that Circular 512 sent out by the Board of Education is practically a dead letter, and the League is prepared to defend any case of prosecution under it; and whether he is ready, under these circumstances, to support authorities in enforcing the demands of the circular.
(Answered by Sir William Anson.) My attention has been called to the leaflet in question. There is no ground for the statement there contained that Circular 512 is a dead letter. The Circular sets out the interpretation placed by the Board upon the Education Acts so far as they relate to school attendance, and conveys certain instructions to inspectors. The Board have not departed and will not depart from that interpretation or from those instructions.