§ DR. MACNAMARAI beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether any school, contracted-out under his Amendment to Clause 4 of the Education Bill, would be permitted to fall back to the system of one-man management; and, if not, whether he can state what arrangements, if any, it is proposed to take in respect to the management of such school.
§ MR. BIRRELLThe Government are most anxious to avoid any possibility of these schools falling back into a condition of things in which their management is in the hands of one individual. It is already laid down, in Article 51 (b) 934 of the Code, as a condition of the payment of grants, that every public elementary school, not maintained by a local education authority, must have a responsible body of managers. This Article continues in the Code, and as it will apply to the schools referred to by the hon. Member, I think adequate security is provided against the danger to which he refers.
§ DR. MACNAMARAWill the local authority managers be continued in office?
§ MR. BIRRELLI do not think so.
§ LORD BALCARRES (Lancashire, Chorley)Will the Amendments on the Paper re-establish something analogous to the old boards of management?
§ MR. BIRRELLI do not think so.
§ LORD R. CECIL (Marylebone, E.)Has the right hon. Gentleman considered whether a State-aided school will be a public elementary school?
§ MR. BIRRELLThat is a point which I think is in doubt at the present time. If it is a public elementary school, of course the conditions of the Code will apply to it. If it is not, there may be a gap in that respect, and I should have to see that it was altered.
§ SIR E. CARSON (Dublin University)When will the right hon. Gentleman put down his Amendment on that point?
§ MR. BIRRELLI do not know; I have not made up my mind.
§ SIR E. CARSONWill it be before or after the closure?
§ [No Answer was returned.]