§ MR. CLOUGHI beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether he will cancel the new official list of several thousands of elementary denominational schools to which the epithet Church of England has been given, in view of the statement of his predecessor that in the great majority of cases the excision of the word national from the title of the schools would not necessitate the insertion of any other phrase, Church of England or anything else, in its place, that it would be only in the small minority of cases where the excision would cause confusion between one school and another, that a distinctive term of some kind would be required, and that the contemplated official list would be of a temporary character; and whether he will compile another list, after consultation with the local education authorities interested therein, on the principles laid down by his predecessor on 20th December, 1906.
§ MR. MCKENNAFor the reasons given in my Answer to my hon. friend 366 on 30th April,† I have not found it possible to restrict the use of the term "Church of England" to schools where the omission of a distinctive epithet would cause confusion. Some seven thousand schools are involved in the change, and the staff of the Board would be quite inadequate to admit of the local circumstances in each case being individually considered. It was, therefore, necessary to proceed on certain general principles. The list of schools is an annual publication, and I shall be prepared to consider any objection to specific names which may be submitted to me.