§ MR. WHITEHEADTo ask the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been called to complaints of inhabitants of the parish of Cold Norton, Essex, that Cold Norton school is not fit on sanitary and other grounds for educational purposes, and to the fact that the building has been condemned by the county education authority as long ago as 1904; whether the poorer inhabitants are still being compelled by law to send their children to this condemned building; and, if so, whether he proposes to take any action" in the matter.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The building of this school is far from satisfactory, but I am not aware that it was condemned by the county education authority; in fact it was, to a considerable extent, due to the repeated requests of that authority that it was placed on the annual grant list. So long as the school is recognised as a public elementary school it is regarded as affording efficient instruction for the children who attend it and thereby satisfying the requirements of the by-laws. The recognition of the school will expire in March next, and I am in communication with the local education authority as to the best means of providing suitable accommodation for these children after that date. I may add that the average attendance at the school last year was only twenty-four.