§ 85. Mr. KEIR HARDIEasked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether he has received a resolution from the education committee of Merthyr Tydvil protesting against the reduction of the necessitous areas Grant and claiming that three-fourths of the expenditure in excess of a rate of 1s. 6d. in the £ should be met by the Government, as originally promised, and not be subject to the limitations since imposed; whether he is aware that the notification of a further reduction in the necessitous school areas Grant was not known to the local education authority until after the estimates for the coming year were passed and will, if persisted in, mean an addition of 2d. to the education rate for the borough; and whether he will revert to the original policy of the Government to pay three-fourths of the expenditure in excess of a rate of 1s. 6d. in the £?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. The regulations for the necessitous Grants (Cd. 6224) provide in 1912–13, as in previous years, for a pro rata reduction in case the total Grants exceed the fixed sum voted by Parliament. Ample notice was thus given to the local authorities, but it is not possible to inform them of the precise reduction of their claims until the close of the year, when all the claims have been examined.
§ Mr. KEIR HARDIEIn view of the fact that the number of areas has been 2127 increased, and that the Grant is consequently proportionately smaller, may I ask whether the right hon. Gentleman cannot see his way to put an extra £80,000 in the Budget to meet the claims of all the areas?
§ Mr. LLOYD GEORGEThe whole subject is at present under consideration.