§ 67. Mr. W. THORNEasked the Minister of Health the number of boards of guardians not complying with Article 14 of the Poor Law Institution Order, 1913; and if he can state any reasons why the Counties of Dorset, Somerset, and Cornwall are not complying with the Order in question?
§ Sir K. WOODThe hon. Member presumably refers to Article 4 of the Order, which provides that a child shall not, in normal circumstances, be retained in an ordinary Poor Law institution for more than six weeks. The number of boards of guardians who, for one reason or another, find themselves unable to comply completely with the rule varies from day to day, and the latest date for which a complete return is available is the 1st January, 1927. At that date there were 53 unions in which there were more than five children, and 136 unions in which there were five or less children, so resident. The corresponding figures for Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall were, respectively, 2 and nil, 3 and 7, and 3 and 4. An unknown proportion of these children were in the institution on medical grounds recognised by the Regulations.