Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSI wish to call attention to a point of some importance in the administration of the Education Act especially with regard to the dis- 729 tribution of the special Grant an Aid—£200,000—amongst the necessitous school areas. The Board of Education has issued a Regulation, one of the provisions of which has the effect of preventing schools which have become necessitous since the first regulation was issued from sharing in the Grant. I am not asking or suggesting that there should be any additional Grant in excess of the £200,000, but merely that it should be distributed among those schools which are necessitous from time to time, and that it should not be confined as at present to those which were necessitous at the time the Regulation was first made. I do not know what Department of the Government is really responsible, because if I ask the Minister of Education a question on the subject he informs the House it is an affair of the Treasury. Regulations have, however, been issued, and the first that was issued did not contain the clause to which I object. But issues are made every year, and every subsequent issue to the first has contained the clause to which I object. That is Clause 4, which provides that the grant shall not be paid under this Regulation to any authority which has not already participated in the special grant. That has the effect of excluding all those schools which have become necessitous since the first issue of the Regulation. I do not pretend to say definitely whether this Regulation is ultra vires or not, but it certainly does not appear to carry out the intention of Parliament when the Giant was made. If I understand it correctly, it was the intention, whenever the elementary rate was over 1s. 6d. in the £, that subject to certain conditions Imperial funds should be given to assist necessitous school areas. There has been a great deal of correspondence between various educational authorities and the Board on this subject; but I cannot find that any reasoned argument has been advanced by the Board in answer to the representations made. I have here one letter in which the Secretary says "he is directed to state that the Board of Education are unable to hold out any hope that Paragraph 4 in the Regulation will be altered in the direction indicated," and he adds, "The restrictions laid down in that paragraph were designed to keep the expenditure out of the very exceptional Vote provided under this Grant within circumscribed limits." I suppose they know what they mean when they say that, but to my mind it is almost impossible to attach any meaning to it except that "we 730 have put in this Regulation, we intend to keep it in, and it is because it is in we shall keep it there." I would like to point out there are many education authorities which not only have a 1s. 6d. rate, but are paying as much as 19d., 20d., 21d., and 22d., so that they are all well qualified, by reason of their necessity, for a share in this grant; yet they are only debarred from it by Regulation 4, which seems to me to be an ultra vires regulation. I am making no apology for saying that in the borough which I represent the expenditure last year exceeded the amount entitling the borough to participate in this Grant, except for this Regulation, by the sum of £2,777. So that it is an important matter, not only to the borough that I represent, but to the bulk, if not all, of the seventeen authorities which were referred to in the answer of the Minister for Education. I should like that the Government should say on what basis these Regulations have been drawn up, and whether they will consider the question of altering them, so as to bring in to a share in the Grant those areas which I claim are not only entitled to them, but are the very areas for which those special Grants are made.
§ Mr. H. S. CAUTLEYThe point raised by my hon. Friend is a very important one, especially to those local education authorities whose education rates exceed 1s. 6d. in the pound. This Parliament has granted the sum of £200,000 to be given to necessitous schools, which have been defined to be—
Those schools whose rate for elementary educational purposes exceeds 1s. 6d. in the £, calculated according to the Act.Primâ facie, therefore, every school whose education rate exceeds 1s. 6d. is a necessitous school, entitled to a share in that money, but the Government have made a Regulation limiting the number of schools claiming a share in that Grant to those whose rate up to the present has been 1s. 6d., but not to any future school whose rate may amount to 1s 6d. It seems to me that that action of the Government is ultra vires, and, if it is not, we shall be very glad if Ministers will tells us under what power in the Act it rests with the Treasury or the Board of Education to determine which schools are to be selected. I would suggest to the Government that they are very unjust in limiting it in this way, because I would point out to them, and especially to the President of the Board of Education that it does 731 not follow that because a school has been necessitous in the past it will be always necessitous, and it does not follow that these schools which are given this grant will always require it. I would point out to the President of the Board of Education that as areas alter places become more populous, and it may easily be that those local education authorities whose rate s under 1s. 6d. in the £ may be changed, and under certain circumstances their rate may become considerably more than 1s. 6d. That is what is taking place, and there are a number of places like Gateshead whose educational rate on the average would exceed 1s. 6d. in the £, and these places, according to this regulation, if it is not ultra vires, are going to be left out. It is a matter of great importance because, unfortunately, the amount of the rate for education purposes is constantly increasing, and that tendency to increase is not showing any sign of diminution. Therefore we ask first for them to tell us under what power they have made these Regulations limited to schools which have been necessitous in the past, and excluding those which may be necessitous in the future, and, secondly, if they have power to do it, I should ask them to take seriously into their consideration whether they ought not to keep to themselves power in the future to let schools whose rates have increased share in the Grant.
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Runciman)The case which has been put by the hon. Gentleman h exactly similar to that which was put last year by an important deputation of Members who represented areas where the rate was above the 1s. 6d. limit. Then I had to tell the hon. Gentlemen who waited on me what I am afraid I must tell the House this afternoon—that we are unable to exceed the £200,000 limit which has been fixed by the Treasury en very good grounds. The Necessitous Areas Grant was in itself in principle indefensible. It was an arrangement made to relieve those areas in which, like East and West Ham, owing to the great growth of population and the poverty of the area, the Education Rate was becoming more and more crushing. It was only intended to give them relief until such time as a better basis for the payment of Grants should he instituted, and the Regulations to which the hon. Gentleman has taken exception, No. 4 and No. 5, were necessary, in order 732 that the areas of this grant should not he placed on anything like a permanent basis. I am sure he will be well aware of the fact that this basis is certainly not scientific, and that if it were continued on its present footing without any limitation, it must of necessity become part of the ordinary grant system of this country. Amongst other considerations which ought to come into any rearrangement of grants in the future must be a uniform system of valuation. We have not got that in this country, and it follows that the 1s. 6d. rate in some places is a heavy burden, whereas in others it is nothing like so heavy, merely because of the variation in the values which are put on rateable property in those areas. Indeed, the whole assistance which has been given out of the £200,000 is bad, is likely to lead to further abuses, and cannot be continued for an unlimited amount of time. Certainly it would place them on a more scientific basis if we were able to give assistance to local authorities in respect of the amount of energy and expense which they have imposed upon themselves in the cause of education. I cannot promise at present that we are going to remodel the whole of our grant system, for that involves legislation, and legislation for the moment appears to be impossible, but if I continue to hold my present office I contemplate putting forward a grant system which will be more justifiable than that under which we are at present working, but I cannot promise that anything can be done towards extending the area of these £200,000 Grants. We must restrict them to those areas which were decided a year or two ago to be necessitous, and which I still believe to be necessitous.
§ Mr. CAUTLEYMay I ask the President of the Board of Education to answer a question? He says that he can act as he has been doing as long as the power stands on the Statute Book. What I want to know is, on what power the Treasury act in cutting out certain areas and limiting the Grant to certain schools?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANI should like the hon. and learned Gentleman to understand that the Treasury limit the Grant acting under statutory powers. It is not my regulation. It is a regulation imposed upon me by the Treasury. If the hon. and learned Gentleman wishes to challenge the Treasury as to its powers, he must address himself to the proper quarter.