§ 53. Mr. James Griffithsasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education how many local education authorities in Wales provide a school medical service for children attending secondary and intermediate schools; whether he will give the names of the authorities who do not provide such a service; and whether he will take steps to secure that a service is established in those areas?
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (Mr. Kenneth Lindsay)With the exception of Carmarthenshire all local education authorities for higher education in Wales make some arrangements for the provision of a school medical service for children attending secondary and intermediate schools. The Board wrote to the Carmarthenshire authority on this subject in January last and again in October and their reply is at present under consideration. The Board have made it clear to the authority 586 that they take a serious view of their failure to comply with their statutory duty of providing for the medical inspection of pupils attending secondary and intermediate schools in the county.
§ Mr. GriffithsIf this authority still refuses to act on the instructions of the Board, will the hon. Gentleman take the fullest possible action against it?
§ Mr. LindsayWe shall continue to exercise pressure.
Viscountess AstorDoes not the hon. Gentleman think that it would be better policy to have open-air nursery schools, so as to prevent these children needing medical attention?