§ 30. Mr. ROBERT WILSONasked the President of the Board of Education whether it is his intention to afford any relief to local education authorities 698 maintaining training colleges additional to the 50 per cent. deficiency grant pending the findings of the proposed Departmental Committee?
§ 40. Mr. ROBERT RICHARDSONasked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that, in order to prevent the closing of their training colleges, a number of local education authorities have been compelled to increase the fees to students from £20 or £30 a year to amounts varying from £80 to £120 a year, while training colleges not under local education authorities are still able to admit students on payment of a fee of £20 or £30 a year because substantive grants of £76 13s. 4d. for a man and £65 6s. 8d. for a woman are still paid by the Board of Education to such colleges, and that., as a result of this difference in treatment, not only will some of the best equipped colleges be half empty on account of the high fee which must be charged, but the students who are admitted will be those who are left after the colleges provided by other bodies have made their selection; and is he prepared to remedy this injustice by reintroducing the substantive grants given before 1920 to training colleges provided by local education authorities, thus giving equal financial treatment to all colleges?
§ Mr. E. WOODI am fully aware of the difficulties referred to by the hon. Member for Houghton-le-Spring (Mr. B. Richardson), but I regret that can add nothing to the reply I gave on the 22nd February last to the Noble Lord the Member for South Nottingham (Lord H. Cavendish-Bentinck).
§ Mr. A. V. ALEXANDERWill the right hon. Gentleman bring pressure to bear on local authorities sending students from other areas to make some grant to the students in aid of the increased fees?
§ Mr. WOODI do not think it quite lies with me to bring that pressure to bear on local authorities. The hon. Gentleman knows the difficulties as well as, or better, perhaps, than I do.
§ Mr. TREVELYANIs the Committee appointed yet?