HC Deb 19 July 1926 vol 198 cc891-2
57. Dr. VERNON DAVIES

asked the President of the Board of Education if he is aware that Frederick Charles Joyce, now of 65, Heap Street, Oldham, is a mentally defective child with spinal curvature; that his father was killed in action in 1915; that his mother has since died and that he, his brother, and a sister are living with their mother's sister, Mrs. Sparkes, at the above address, which is an ordinary four-roomed house; that Mrs. Sparkes' family, consisting of a husband and six children, live also in this house, one of the children suffering from tuberculosis and another being mentally defective; that for the last two years the War Pensions Committee has been trying to get Frederick Charles Joyce removed from such unsuitable surroundings in vain; that they have been assisted in these attempts by the local education authority; and whether the Board of Education will arrange for the accommodation of this child in an institution?

The PRESIDENT of the BOARD of EDUCATION (Lord Eustace Percy)

The case of this boy has been already brought to my notice. I am making inquiries to see if anything can be done in the direction suggested by my hon. Friend, and I will let him know the result.