§ LORD R. CECIL (Marylebone, E.)I beg to ask the President of the Board of Education if he will state when the parchment certificates which were promised to be issued to the newly certificated teachers last Easter will be issued to them; and what is the reason for the delay that has taken place.
§ MR. MCKENNANo parchment certificates were promised to be issued to newly certificated teachers last Easter. The certificates which became due for issue at or about that time were certifi- 1762 cates for teachers who had been originally recognised from 1st August, 1905. These certificates have been issued in all cases in which the necessary conditions were satisfied. In the Code for 1907 the Board announced their intention to issue certificates in future on the recognition of a teacher, instead of after an interval of eighteen months, as has hitherto been the practice. I regret that for various reasons, principally the labour involved in the preparation and printing of the large number of certificates required by the new conditions, it has not been possible to bring this change into operation so soon as had been intended, but it is hoped that certificates will be issued shortly to all teachers qualified to receive them.
§ LORD R. CECILThe matter is exciting great interest. Cannot the right hon. Gentleman announce some date?
§ MR. MCKENNAIt is in the printers' hands. It is a matter of some difficulty, and I cannot give a definite date.