HC Deb 06 April 1921 vol 140 cc276-7
74. Sir B. CHADWICK

asked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the Local Education Authority for Barrow-in-Furness, after having tried without success to obtain a place for an epileptic child in England, have now obtained a place for that child in a certified school in Scotland; whether the Board of Education has declined to sanction contribution towards the maintenance of that child on the ground that they are precluded by law from authorising such contribution; whether, if the Board have so declined, the legal ground on which the objection is made is that the certified institution willing to receive the child is in Scotland; and whether, the Board having stated that they recognise there is at present no vacancy in any certified school in England, it is possible for the Authority, under the extraordinary condition, to contribute to the educational training and care of this child in a certified school in Scotland pending a vacancy arising in a certified school in England?

The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Fisher)

The institution to which the hon. Member refers is not a certified special school, and is not recognised by the Scottish Education Department. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. A Local Education Authority in England and Wales is precluded, under Section 2 of the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1899, from educating an epileptic child in an institution not certified by the Board.