§ MR. HARVEY (Rochdale)To ask the President of the Board of Education if, prior to the next issue of the list of public elementary schools, he will take steps to secure the publication of revised and corrected figures of accommodation by eliminating from the measurements of floor space upon which accommodation is based such portions of the school buildings as are not available for effective teaching, and by taking into consideration the existence of a proper number of class-rooms.
(Answered by Mr. McKenna.) The figures of accommodation appearing in the list of public elementary schools 1045 represent the accommodation recognised by the Board, and do not in every case coincide with the accommodation available for effective teaching. I fear the burden on the ratepayers that would be caused by the condemnation of schools and class-rooms which ought not properly to be regarded as suitable for effective teaching renders such an. immediate step impossible. The Board are endeavouring to secure in all schools that not less than ten square feet of floor space shall be provided for each child, and to remove from the list unsuitable schools and class-rooms where alternative accommodation is available or, failing this, so soon as it can be secured. The difficulty of carrying out these necessary reforms with geater rapidity lies solely in the reluctance on the part of many local education authorities to provide the accommodation required for the children displaced.