§ * MR. LEIF JONES (Westmoreland, Appleby)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he proposes to introduce into the Education Bill Amendments which shall restore to women the right to be elected on education authorities, of which they were deprived by the Education Act of 1902.
§ MR. LOUGHThe Board of Education are in full sympathy with the hon. 370 Member in desiring to see women given a responsible position in the direction of public education. Their exclusion from the present local education authorities (except as possibly co-opted members on their education committees) is one of the results of the last Government's educational legislation which is, I believe, very widely deplored. But it is one which cannot be remedied in an Education Bill, since the remedy is only to be achieved by a fundamental alteration of all our long-standing and numerous Local Government laws. This is a matter which is not within the province of the Board of Education.
§ * MR. LEIF JONESWill the hon. Gentleman consider the desirability of establishing directly elected ad hoc authorities on which women would be eligible for election on the same terms and by the same electors as men?