§ MR. THORNE (West Ham, S.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education if his attention has been called to the overcrowding of two schools under the control of the West Ham Education Authority, viz., Hermit Road School, in the boys' department (capacity 480), in which there are now 588 on the roll; in the girls' (capacity 480), on the roll 600; in the infants' (capacity 610), on the roll 640; Star Lane School, boys' department (capacity 480), on the roll 527; girls' (capacity 480), 590 on the roll; and whether the Board of Education propose to compel the West Ham Education Authority to build additional school accommodation to prevent the overcrowding in the schools mentioned.
§ MR. BIRRELLMy attention had not been called to the matters referred to until I saw the hon. Member's Question two days ago, and the shortness of notice of the Question has not permitted me to give that consideration to the case which is needed before I could properly make any official pronouncement upon it in reply to the hon. Member. I may say, however, that according to figures obtained for mo so recently as Friday last, the overcrowding seems to be not so serious as would appear from the figures in the Question; the average attendance of the boys' and the girls' and the infants' departments at Star Lane being, I am told, 507 and 478 and 534, respectively, with accommodation (on the 10 feet basis) for 480 and 480 and 596 respectively, and on the 8 square feet basis, of course, for considerably more. But I will have the matter investigated.