§ 71. Mr. MYERSasked the President of the Board of Education whether, in respect of paragraph 3 of Circular 1,253 recently issued to local authorities upon the question of the recognition of second-class degrees, he will regard the refusal to recognise any such degree of modern universities and the recognition of all second-class degrees of Oxford and Cambridge a case in which no attempt has been made to discover the relevant circumstances; and, if so, what steps does he propose to take in order to ensure that local authorities and governing bodies adopt the proper interpretation of the honours clause in these cases?
§ The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Mr. Herbert Fisher)The question which the Board have to consider is whether an excessively liberal use is being made by local education authorities of their discretion to make extra payments in respect of good honours degrees below those of the first 471 class, that is whether they can recognise for the calculation of grant the expenditure involved by such payments. The Board are not in a position to press local education authorities to make payments which they do not desire to make or penalise them if they do not make them. The Board have not committed themselves to the permanent recognition for grant of additional payments made to all holders of Oxford and Cambridge second-class degrees without discrimination, but as regards the financial year 1921–22 I do not think that occasion for reduction of grant arises in the circumstances stated.