§ 58. Mr. HURDasked the President of the Board of Education what steps he is taking to lessen the number of forms to be filled up by educational authorities and teachers; and whether his Department is acting upon its own admission that such Whitehall Orders as the Education Account (and Statement) Order, 1921, entail the necessity of an unduly laborious dissection of accounts, with a waste of both time and money?
§ Mr. FISHERI am most anxious to avoid imposing any unnecessary labour upon local education authorities; but for the proper discharge of the Board's responsibilities to Parliament it is essential that they should obtain full and early information of the facts relevant to their administration. I am not prepared to admit that the new form of account will, as regards future financial years, impose upon the authorities an unduly laborious dissection of accounts. The statement, to which the hon. Member refers, related to cases in which the accounts for the current year had not, previously to the issue of the new form, been kept in such a way as to enable the new form to be readily completed without the analysis of unanalysed items.
§ Mr. HURDWould the right hon. Gentleman say exactly what the Board is doing to prevent this state of things? His answer does not give any information on that point.
§ Mr. FISHERThe Board is not doing anything to stop it. [HON. MEMBERS: "Resign."] The Board is issuing a new form of accounts which will be far more convenient than the old form of accounts, and will enable the President of the Board to give much more satisfactory information to the House, and will enable the Board to exercise a much stricter financial control over local expenditure than has hitherto been possible.
§ Lieut.-Colonel ASHLEYIs my right hon. Friend aware that the expenditure is not of the local authority, but at Whitehall?
§ Sir W. DAVISONIs my right hon. Friend aware of the great burden placed 1771 upon many schools, by reason of the fact that they have to publish their accounts to the London County Council for the year ending the 31st July, and separate accounts to the Board of Education for the year ending the 31st March, and could not some arrangement be come to with these public bodies to get the same year in each case?
Sir J. D. REESWill my right hon. Friend note that, if there were less expenditure, there would be less accounting?