§ 42. Mr. STEPHENasked the Secretary for Scotland the result of his investigations regarding the failure of the local education authority to provide intermediate education in the Island of Arran; and what steps he proposes to take to compel the authority to carry out its legal obligations in this respect?
Mr. ADAMSONI am informed by the education authority for the County of Bute that they considered the question of establishing an intermediate school at a centre in Arran in 1920. There is, however, no regular daily means of communication between the various populated centres on the island, and, accordingly, the majority of the children attending at any one centre in Arran would have to live in lodgings away from home. In the circumstances, the Arran representatives on the education authority were unanimously of opinion that it was better to give bursaries for attendance at the authority's secondary school in Rothesay, or at schools on the mainland. Bursaries, varying from £15 to £35 a year, are given, and, so far as the authority has heard, there has been no complaint upon the part of Arran people against the present arrangements. All the Arran schools provide education for 1140 children up to 14 years of age, in accordance with the Code of Regulations for Day Schools, and the authority state that, under the new Code, the scheme of education may, in certain cases, be framed to prepare for secondary work elsewhere. The Department will keep this point carefully in view when the schemes are being considered.