§ MR. RAWLINSON (Cambridge University)To ask the President of the Board of Education whether, under the Education Bill, it will be the duty of the local education authority to see that all children attend school at 9 a.m.; and whether children in contracted-out schools will be in the same position as those in provided schools as to competition for scholarships in secondary schools, sharing in services of medical inspectors.
(Answered by Mr. Runciman.) The Education Bill makes no alteration in the law of school attendance, except in so far as Clause 1 (3) prevents a child being compelled to attend a purely denominational school unless the parent has himself selected that school in preference to sending his child to an undenominational school. In regard to the second paragraph of the Question the Bill places no hindrance in the way of children in the schools referred to being equally eligible with children in other public elementary schools for scholarships in secondary schools, and, so far as scholarships made available by schemes under the Charitable Trusts and Endowed Schools Acts are concerned, such children will necessarily be equally eligible with the children in provided schools. In regard to the concluding paragraph, the Bill provides that the duty of local authorities in the matter of medical inspection of children in public elementary schools shall apply to the denominational schools under the Bill as well as to the provided schools.