Captain FABERasked the President of the Board of Education if he would state whether the Surrey by-laws are correct in stating that the three reasonable excuses allowed for non-attendance at schools under the Education Act are the only ones to be recognised, whereas the courts held that the excuses were only illustrative and not exhaustive; and whether he will explain why such by-laws were sanctioned by the Board after Mr. Justice Stephen's judgment as to non-attendance on certain occasions by girls required at home by their mothers?
§ The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Trevelyan)I do not find any such statement in the Surrey School Attendance Bylaws. In accordance with well-established usage, the by-laws set out the three statutory excuses, but there is nothing in them to suggest that the list is exhaustive.