§ MR. GODDARD (Ipswich)To ask the President of the Board of Education whether he is prepared, pending the consideration of the proposed amalgamation of the existing grants for elementary education, to take any steps to remedy the inconvenience to many local education authorities which has arisen during the current financial year owing to the abandonment by the Board of Education of the quarterly system of paying the annual grants.
§ MR. McKENNAThe arrangement by which certain limited sums were in some cases paid in advance was a purely temporary expedient to meet difficulties arising from the coming into operation of the Education Acts 1902 and 1903. Full notice was given to Local Education Authorities of the discontinuance of these payments, and I regret I cannot see my way to resume them, but I have under consideration the whole question of the methods by which the grants in respect of elementary education are paid with a view to ascertaining what changes can be made.