§ MR. JOHN WARDI beg to ask the President of the Board of Education, whether, in the case of the education of blind and deaf children, under the Elementary Education (Blind and Deaf Children) Act, 1893, the proportion of Government grant paid by the Board of Education in respect of such children in relation to the full cost of education and other expenses allowed by the Act amounts to only about 13 per cent. in the case of residential schools, and to about 26 per cent. in the case of day schools; and whether as, under the Elementary Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, the difference between the full cost of such education and the amount of Government grant to these schools may become a charge upon local education authorities, the Board of Education proposes to make such additions to the amount of Government grant now paid in respect of such children as will render the incidence of cost as between the State and the local authorities comparable with that existing in the case of sighted and hearing children in elementary schools, of which cost the State now pays amounts varying from 50 to 75 per cent.
§ THE PRESIDENT OF THE BOARD OF EDUCATION (Mr. RUNCIMAN,) DewsburyThe cost of maintenance of Special Schools for Blind and Deaf Children varies so largely that it is difficult to give any reliable figures of the percentage met by Exchequer Grants, but the percentage is certainly considerably lower than that in ordinary public elementary schools. The Board have received several representations urging the desirability of increasing the grants to these institutions and they have the whole question under consideration.