HC Deb 26 November 1925 vol 188 cc1586-7
42. Mr. TREVELYAN

asked the President of the Board of Education how far the arbitration award of the Lord Burnham Committee between the local education authorities and the teachers has been accepted throughout the country; what are the numbers and names of the local education authorities that have so far failed to adopt the award; and what action he is taking in the various cases to ensure that the settlement shall be of national application?

Lord E. PERCY

I am informed that, on the elementary side, the following seven local authorities have not yet adopted the award, together with the scales allocated to them: Carmarthenshire, Croydon, Essex, Harwich, New-castle-under-Lyme, Pembroke Borough, Wimbledon. As regards teachers in secondary and technical schools, I understand that no authority has yet been reported to the Burnham Committee as not adopting the award. With regard to the last part of the question I have, in one case, decided that the action of the authority has not been such as to justify the Board in making any adjustment of grant at this stage; the other cases I have invited the Burnham Committee to discuss with me.

43. Mr. R. MORRISON

asked the President of the Board of Education whether any of the local authorities that have not adopted the Burnham Scale of salaries refused to submit their case to Lord Burnham as arbitrator?

Lord E. PERCY

The Board were not parties to the arbitration proceedings, and had no official cognisance of what occurred during the course of those proceedings. Only seven authorities have not adopted the Burnham Scale. Since the award was promulgated certain of these authorities have made communications to me relative to what passed during the proceedings; but I am not prepared to say that the information which I have thus received would justify the inference that any of those authorities actually refused to submit their case to Lord Burnham.

Mr. MORRISON

May we take it from the reply that there is no suggestion that the Board is supporting these authorities in resisting the award?

Lord E. PERCY

I do not think that that has anything to do with the original question asked. I was asked whether any local authorities had refused to submit their case to Lord Burnham as arbitrator.