§ MR. CHARLES ROBERTS (Lincoln)To ask the President of the Board of Education if he will state the number of minor local Education authorities within the area of which not more than one public elementary school is situated; the total number of such schools connected with each denomination or classed as provided schools; and the number of children in average attendance at each class of schools in such single-school areas.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The term "minor local authority "connotes boroughs under 10,000 population, urban districts under 20,000, and parishes in rural districts. The total number of these within the area of which, respectively, there is one and only one public elementary school is 7,744, taking the January, 1906, figures; 22 of these are boroughs, and more than 100 are urban districts. The average attendance of these schools cannot be given accurately until further Returns are compiled, but it is approximately 694,164. (The denomination of the schools in each of the 7,744 areas above described is set out in the table of figures below.) It must be clearly understood, however, that this does not mean that 7,744 is the number of areas in which there is one, but only one, public elementary school available for the children of the area, for the reasons that (1) this figure does not include the num-
| England. | |||
| Classification of Schools. | Number of Minor Local Authorities. | Average Attendance (approximate). | |
| Council schools | 1,493 | 189,033 | |
| Voluntary schools | Church of England | 5,497 | 445,067 |
| Roman Catholic | 30 | 1,858 | |
| Wesleyan | 16 | 1,523 | |
| Undenominational, & c. | 155 | 14,075 | |
| Total | 7,191 | 651,556 |
§ erous parishes in which there is no school at all, and the children have to walk to the school in the next parish, and (2) on the other hand, in the case of very many of the 7,744 areas, as also of the last-named parishes, the children are within easy distance of one or more schools in neighbouring parishes, and frequently go to such, and there is, in this way, a choice of schools for such parishes and districts. In this connection, however, it should be noted that there are a very large number of places, urban as well as rural, where, though there is more than one school within the area or within roach, there is no effective choice of schools, since all the schools within reach are of one type—denominational or undenominational, as the case may be. This may be equally true of any of the 7,744 areas above named. It is a matter that can only be determined by knowledge of local conditions in each case. Statement showing the number of minor local authorities on January 1st, 1906, within the area of which there is one, and only one, public elementary school with approximate figures for the average attendance in such schools.
§ Note:—The term "undenominational, etc.," used below comprises British and Foreign Society's schools, and some other schools which are either undenominational, or of which the Board do not know the denomination.
1121| Wales and Monmouth. | |||
| Classification of Schools. | Number of Minor Local Authorities. | Average Attendance (approximate). | |
| Council schools | 220 | 19,475 | |
| Voluntary schools | Church of England | 307 | 21,508 |
| Roman Catholic | 1 | 43 | |
| Wesleyan | — | — | |
| Undenominational, & c. | 25 | 1,582 | |
| Total | 553 | 42,608 |
| England and Wales together. | |||
| Classification of Schools. | Number of Minor Local Authorities. | Average Attendance (approximate). | |
| Council schools | 1,713 | 208,508 | |
| Voluntary schools | Church of England | 5,804 | 466,575 |
| Roman Catholic | 31 | 1,901 | |
| Wesleyan | 16 | 1,523 | |
| Undenominational, & c. | 180 | 15,657 | |
| Total | 7,744 | 694,164 |