§ MR. J. MACVEAGHTo ask the Secretary to the Board of Education whether he can state approximately the total of contributions from local authorities in England and Wales to education in the last financial year; and, having regard to the fact that £12,726,000 is stated by the Treasury to be the net amount charged on the Votes of Parliament for the Board of Education in England, can he state the total cost of education in the last financial year, and the rate per head of the population as estimated in 1905.
(Answered by Mr. Lough.) No reliable figures are available as regards local authorities' expenditure on education 499 in England and Wales in the financial year which ended ten days ago. It has been estimated that the total expenditure from public funds on elementary education during that period would be about £21,323,274, of which £11,022,600 would be met from Exchequer grants, and £10,300,674 from local sources, which, in some cases, may include receipts from endowments and from fees. In respect of education other than elementary the corresponding figures are estimated as £3,040,964, £1,556,488 (including sums from the Local Taxation (Customs and Excise) Residue Account), and £1,484,476 respectively, but these figures are not reliable, and they do not, of course, include all public expenditure upon education of all grades in England and Wales, still less the "total cost of education," which the hon. Member asks for. For this reason it is impossible to state the rate per head of the estimated population.