§ 40. Mr. HARRISasked the President of the Board of Education whether the Board has any information as to the rate of unemployment amongst boys and girls leaving the elementary schools at 14 years of age?
§ Lord E. PERCYNo, Sir. I explained in my statement on 24th February that, though the London County Council had conducted a fairly close inquiry in London, similar figures for the country as a whole were not available.
§ Mr. HARRISWould the Noble Lord make representations to the education authorities to endeavour to collect information of this character which would be most valuable, both from an educational and employment point of view?
§ Lord E. PERCYI am impressing upon the local authorities the necessity of considering and taking action in respect to this question of juvenile employment, but I rather hesitate to ask them to collect statistics, though I agree with my hon. Friend that statistics are a very useful thing indeed.