§ MR. WHITEHEAD (Essex, S.E.)To ask the President of the Board of Education whether he can take steps to secure that the special grant in aid of education rates, about to be made to authorities whose expenditure under Part III. of the Education Act has exceeded a rate of Is. 6d., shall be so allocated that each parish in a county area, the education rates of which parish have exceeded that amount, will get relief to the same extent as a parish in an urban district or borough; and whether the parishes of Hockley, Ashingdon, and South Fambridge, in Essex, the education rates in which last year were 2s., 1s. 9½d., and 1s. 9½d. respectively, will receive any relief from the said grant.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) The special grant referred to in the Question was only made in respect of complete areas of local education authorities in which the rate exceeded a certain sum, and not in respect of individual parishes forming part of any authority's area. I am unable to take any steps in the direction suggested, but the whole question of grants in respect of elementary education will, I hope, though I cannot be certain, come up for consideration next year, when the point referred to by the hon. Member shall have full attention.