HC Deb 30 April 1908 vol 187 cc1409-10
MR. BOTTOMLEY

I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether, at the last preliminary examination for the certificate, a candidate from Wolverhampton was failed; whether the local education authority for Wolverhampton wrote to the Board of Education expressing their surprise and pointing out that the candidate had passed the Birmingham Matriculation; whether it has been discovered that the examiner had accidentally given only a portion of the right marks to this and several other candidates; whether the Board of Education declines to give the local education authority any information on the subject; whether the examiner in question has been censured or in any way punished; and what steps the Board propose to take to rectify the injury inflicted upon the candidate by the negligence of that officer?

THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. RUNCIMAN,) Dewsbury

The local authority for Wolverhampton wrote to the Board expressing surprise at the failure of two of their candidates in the examination referred to. They stated that one of the candidates had passed the Matriculation Examination of Birmingham University, and asked whether the Board could give any information regarding the subjects in which they had failed. The Board replied on the 8th April that it was not their practice to give such information. I may say that neither of those candidates lost through an accident on the part of the examiner any marks which would otherwise have been awarded to them. If the hon. Member can furnish me with the names of any candidates believed to have lost marks in this way I will see that their cases are investigated.