LOCAL AUTHORITIES' SCHEMES.

HC Deb 30 April 1925 vol 183 cc304-6

31. Mr. RUNCIMAN

asked the President of the Board of Education what local authorities have submitted schemes to the Board under Section 1 of the Education Act, 1918, or under Section 11 of the Education Act, 1921; which of these schemes have been approved by the Board; and which of them are In operation?

Lord E. PERCY

As the reply to this question is rather long, I will, with the right hon. Member's permission, circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

Schemes under the Sections referred to have been submitted by the following authorities of counties and county boroughs:

Counties:

• Bedfordshire.
• Buckinghamshire.
• Cornwall.
• Dorset.
• Durham.
• Gloucestershire.
• Huntingdonshire.
• Kent.
• Lincolnshire (Holland).
• Lincolnshire (Kesteven).
• Lincolnshire (Lindsey).
• London.
• Middlesex.
• Norfolk.
• Oxfordshire.
• Rutland.
• Scilly, Isle of.
• Somerset.
• Staffordshire.
• Suffolk, East.
• Sussex, West.
• Warwickshire.
• Wight, Isle of.
• Yorks (North Riding).

County Boroughs:

• Barrow-in-Furness.
• Bath.
• Birmingham.
• Bootle.
• Bristol (partial scheme).
• Burton on-Trent.
• Chester.
• Coventry.
• Dewsbury.
• Eastbourne.
• Grimsby.
• Huddersfield.
• Ipswich.
• Kingston-upon-Hull.
• Liverpool.
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• Norwich.
• Oldham.
• Oxford.
• Southampton (partial scheme).
• Stoke-on-Trent.
• Wallasey.
• West Ham.
• York.

In view of the financial position existing at the time of the submission of these schemes, the Board did not feel justified in giving statutory approval to any of them and thereby making it obligatory upon the authorities to give effect to them; but the fact that the Board have felt bound to refrain from giving statutory approval to schemes does not mean that the authorities have been thereby debarred from taking up particular proposals included in their schemes, or that particular items of schemes have not been approved individually by the Board from time to time when submitted by an authority.

The right hon. Member is, no doubt, aware that I have recently requested local authorities to submit to me practical programmes of educational development covering a period of three to five years.