§ LORD BALCARRES, (Lancashire, Chorley)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education whether, under the Regulations for Secondary Schools, 1908–9, the Board of Education are empowered to pay grants in full for the school year 1908–9, irrespective of the payment, if any, made for the school year 1907–8 to a secondary school, in respect of which the Board is satisfied that the conditions 577 laid down in Article 5, as to denominational religious instruction, or in Article 18 (b), as to the imposition of a conscience clause applicable to boarders may be waived, in view of the educational needs of the area; and, if so, whether it is the intention of the Board to make such payments of grants in full in respect of which it is shown that the conditions in question can with advantage to the educational requirements of the district be waived.
§ MR. RUNCIMANUnder the Regulations for Secondary Schools, 1908, any waiver of the conditions attached to any higher scale of grant by the Regulation of 1907 can only be granted as regards the conditions set out in Articles 23 and 24, except in continuance of a waiver already granted under the Regulations of 1907. As is stated in Paragraph 3 of the Prefatory Memorandum to the Regulations of 1908, no such waiver has been granted as regards Article 5, and only one as regards Article 18 (b). The waiver provisions are in any case only applicable to schools which received grants, or were recognised as pupil teacher centres, for the year 1907–8.
§ LORD BALCARRESwas understood to ask in how many cases the waiver was granted in 1907?
§ MR. RUNCIMANI cannot say without notice, but I will get the information for the noble Lord.