HC Deb 13 August 1913 vol 56 cc2570-1

(1) A person who is a defective may be dealt with under this Act by being sent to or placed in an institution for defectives or placed under guardianship—

  1. (a) at the instance of his parent or guardian, if he is an idiot or imbecile, or at the instance of his parent if he is under the age of twenty-one; or
  2. (b) if in addition to being a defective he is a person—
    1. (i) who is found neglected, abandoned, or without visible means of support, or cruelly treated; or
    2. (ii) who is found guilty of any criminal offence, or who is ordered or found liable to be ordered to be sent to a certified industrial school;
    3. (iii) who is undergoing imprisonment (except imprisonment under civil process), or penal servitude, or is undergoing detention in a place of detention by order of a Court, or in a reformatory or industrial school, or in an inebriate reformatory or who is detained in an institution for lunatics or a criminal lunatic asylum; or
    4. (iv) who is an habitual drunkard within the meaning of the Inebriates Acts, 1879 to 1900; or
    5. (v) in whose case such notice has been given by the local education authority as is hereinafter in this Section mentioned; or
    6. (vi) who is in receipt of poor relief at the time of giving birth to an illegitimate child or when pregnant of such child.

(2) Notice shall, subject to regulations made by the Board of Education, to be laid before Parliament as hereinafter provided, be given by the local education authority to the local authority under this Act in the case of all defective children over the age of seven—

  1. (a) who have been ascertained to be incapable by reason of mental defect of receiving benefit or further benefit in special schools or classes, or who cannot be instructed in a special 2571 school or class without detriment to the interests of the other children, or for whom the Board of Education certify that no suitable special school or class is available;
  2. (b) who on or before attaining the age of sixteen are about to be withdrawn or discharged from a. special school or class, and in whose case the local education authority are of opinion that it would be to their benefit that they should be sent to an institution or placed under guardianship.

Lords Amendments:—

In Sub-section (1), paragraph (a), after the word "if" ["if he is under the age of twenty-one"], insert the words "though not an idiot or imbecile."

In Sub-section (2), paragraph (a), leave out the words "no suitable special school or class is available," and insert thereof the words, "there are special circumstances which render it desirable that they should be dealt with under this Act by way of supervision or guardianship."

Lords Amendments agreed to.