§ Mr. D. A. THOMAS (Merthyr Tydvil)To ask the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the Monmouthshire Education Authority has established uniform rates of salaries for teachers in provided schools within the county, but declines to pay teachers in non-provided schools at the same rates; and whether he has ever advised any 257 such discrimination between the two classes of schools.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) It is not one of the duties of the Board of Education to advise local education authorities as to the amount of salary they should pay to their teachers.
§ Mr. D. A. THOMASTo ask the President of the Board of Education if he can say how many teachers employed at non-provided schools in Swansea have recently tendered their resignation; whether he is aware that they have taken this step at the request of the executive of the National Union of Teachers, and because for similar work they are paid lower salaries than their colleagues in the provided schools under the same authority; and whether, in the event of the resignations taking effect, and the schools being closed, the Education Board has any powers which it can exercise to compel the local authority to abandon the discrimination it now makes in the salaries of provided and non-provided schoolteachers.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) I cannot say how many teachers in voluntary schools in Swansea have resigned or what reasons have led them to take this step. The last paragraph of my hon. friend's Question, raises hypothetical questions which will require consideration in the event of the contingency to which he refers arising.