§ 49. Mr. C. EDWARDS (for Sir WILLIAM JENKINS)asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education the number of education authorities in England and Wales which employ school medical officers, dental surgeons, orthopaedic surgeons, and school nurses, giving the number of officers per thousand of children on the books, for 1920, 1925, 1930, 1932, and 1933, and giving figures for England and Wales separately?
§ Captain AUSTIN HUDSON (Lord of the Treasury)I have been asked to reply. As the reply involves a tabular statement, I will circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.
§ Following is the statement:
29§ The following is the information asked for in so far as it is available:
| I.—SCHOOL MEDICAL, DENTAL AND NURSING STAFF, IN ENGLAND AND WALES. | ||||||||||||
| Year. | School Medical Officers (including Assistant School Medical Officers). | School Dentists. | School Nurses. | |||||||||
| Number of L.E.As. | Number of Medical Officers. | Ratio of Medical Officers to children in average attendance. | Number of L.E.As. | Number of Dentists. | Ratio of Dentists to children in average attendance. | Number of L.E.As. | Number of Nurses. | |||||
| Actual. | Equivalent in whole-time Medical Officers. | Actual. | Equivalent in whole-time Dentists. | Actual. | Equivalent in whole-time Nurses (excluding District Nurses). | |||||||
| (Approx.) | (Approx.) | |||||||||||
| 1920–21 | … | 316 | 812 | — | — | 235 | 420 | — | — | 316 | 1,941 | — |
| 1925–26 | … | 317 | 1,140 | 589 | 1 to 8,500 | 289 | 584 | 354 | 1 to 14,000 | 317 | 4,520 | 1,745 |
| 1930–31 | … | 317 | 1,301 | 652 | 1 to 7,600 | 310 | 741 | 521 | 1 to 9,500 | 317 | 5,485 | 2,178 |
| 1932–33 | … | 316 | 1,341 | 659 | 1 to 7,600 | 312 | 774 | 555 | 1 to 9,000 | 316 | 5,630 | 2,243 |
§ NOTES:—(a) Complete figures are not available for the year 1920–21.
§ (b) Precise information is not available as to the amount of work done for Local Education Authorities by District Nurses. It is therefore not possible to estimate the ratio of the number of School Nurses to the number of children in average attendance.
§ (c) Separate figures for England and Wales cannot be given without an undue expenditure of time and labour.
| II.—ORTHOPAEDIC STAFF IN ENGLAND AND WALES. | ||||
| — | 1920–21. | 1925–26. | 1930–31. | 1932–33. |
| Number of Local Education Authorities having Orthopaedic Schemes (involving surgical treatment). | Not available | 85 | 216 | 228 |
| Number of Orthopaedic Surgeons directly employed by Local Education Authorities | Not available | 27 | 121 | 125 |
§ Orthopaedic Schemes are frequently operated by means of arrangements made between Local Education, Authorities and Orthopaedic Hospitals, and in these cases the Orthopaedic Surgeons are not directly employed by the Authorities.