§ 18. Mr. TREVELYANasked the President of the Board of Education how much of Circular 1360, of 3rd April, 1926, is now valid in view of the disappearance of the articles in the new Code to which it refers; to what documents any local education authority is expected to look in order to know what ought to be the minimum standard of staffing and the maximum size of classes in a given school; or whether the standard is to be decided in future by general arrangements between the Board and the authorities, which settle the numbers of the total staff of the authority but leave the distribution of the staff through their schools to the discretion of the authority?
Duchess of ATHOLLIt is explicitly stated in paragraph 5 of Circular 1375, a 2289 copy of which my right hon. Friend is sending the right hon. Member, that if the Board have occasion to examine the distribution of the staff on an authority's establishment among individual schools, they will continue to be guided by the views expressed in Circular 1360 as indicating a general level below which an authority might reasonably be expected not to fall without some special justification. In settling the arrangements to be made for individual schools, authorities will naturally, therefore, continue to have regard to what is said in Circular 1360 as indicating minimum standards both as regards teaching staff and size of classes. As regards the last part of the question, the right hon. Member will be aware that, by Article 11 of the Code, authorities are required, if called upon, to satisfy the Board as to the distribution of their approved establishment.
§ Mr. TREVELYANThen I understand that the standard which existed in the previous code has not been withdrawn at all?