§ MR. CLOUGH (Yorkshire, W. R., Skipton)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the two members of the West Riding education authority who reported upon the head teachership of the Royston School, have for some years been members of the staffing committee, one of them being the chairman, and are consequently specially experienced in making the staffing appointments throughout the Riding, and that their clerk had previously been a school inspector, and 1569 was consequently specially experienced in dealing with children and testing the efficiency of teachers; will he say whether the Board of Education has ever issued any regulations that the duration of visits to schools shall exceed forty-five minutes; that more than fifteen minutes shall be spent with the children in the school; and that more than six questions in geography and mental arithmetic shall always be asked of the children.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. MCKENNA,) Monmouthshire, N.I understand that the facts stated in the first portion of my hon. friend's Question are correct, but I have no information as to the accuracy of the conclusions which he draws from them. The Board have no jurisdiction to determine what evidence a local education authority may require upon which to base a decision as to the educational unfitness of a teacher, and they have not, therefore, issued any regulations on the subject.