HC Deb 01 November 1939 vol 352 cc1937-41
Mr. Lees-Smith

(by Private Notice) asked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether any decision has been reached as to the re-opening of schools in evacuation areas?

The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (Mr. Kenneth Lindsay)

Yes, Sir, His Majesty's Government have decided that such schools in evacuation areas as can be made available for educational purposes shall be reopened for the education of the children of parents who desire them to attend. It will be realised that some of the schools in these areas are unsuitable for reasons either of location or construction, that some of them are now being used for National Defence services, and that it will not be possible to restore all of them to educational purposes. For these reasons, and also because protective measures will probably reduce the normal school accommodation, it may be necessary in many cases to have recourse to the double-shift system, with attendance only for part of the day.

Before the schools can be opened it will be necessary to provide some reasonable protection against air raids, but if serious air raids occur over these areas, which must continue to be regarded as vulnerable, the schools will be closed. Arrangements are being made with my right hon. Friend the Minister of Home Security to institute at once a survey of the school premises which may be made available in order to decide which of them are suitable and on the form of protection most appropriate in each case. Local education authorities should make their plans to meet the new situation for their areas as a whole, having regard to the protected accommodation which will be available and the number of school children to be accommodated. The detailed arrangements will necessarily occupy some time, and the rate of progress will vary in different areas, but my Noble Friend is confident that authorities will make every effort to open schools as soon as possible.

The fact that a measure of educational facilities is being provided in the evacuation areas is no justification for the removal of children by their parents from the reception areas to which they were evacuated in the interests of their safety. Our aim, in short, is to provide the maximum amount of education in evacuation, neutral and reception areas respectively consistent with reasonable protection for the; children if and where required.

Sir P. Harris

Can the Board give an assurance that this scheme will include the complete restoration of medical inspection and treatment as well as the restoration of the supply of milk and meals?

Mr. Lindsay

Meals and medical treatment are already being given, and I can assure the hon. Baronet that their importance will be among bur first considerations.

Dr. Haden Guest

In view of this grave decision, may I ask whether the hon. Member will give an undertaking that no school will be opened until adequate protection against sudden air raids has been provided, and will he state what he meant in his answer by the word "protection"?

Mr. Lindsay

As I have already stated, if there are serious air raids the schools will be closed, but it is important to have them opened as soon as possible. Difficulties about materials exist, and they are serious, but we are contemplating in evacuation areas a lighter form of protection, which will give reasonable protection against splinters and shrapnel, such as the bricking up of windows and the use of corridors. [An HON. MEMBER: "Glass?"] I said a lighter form of protection, and I would rather not go into exact details; but attention must be paid in these refuge rooms to see that there are alternative exits. There must be some risk in opening the schools, but what we have to weigh is the risk of leaving three-quarters of a million children without schooling, against the risk of having them in school, which, I agree, is a risk.

Sir W. Davison

Does my hon. Friend realise that the statement he has made is very likely to cause a rush back of children who are now in the reception areas?

Mr. Lindsay

I should like to repeat that this is no justification for parents bringing children back from the reception areas. I would add that there will be no advantage in doing so, because in a large number of cases, in London, for example, many of the schools have been commandeered, and are not likely to be released, and there is to be a double-shift form of education. I would add, further, that the advantages which daily are accruing to the children in reception areas are so manifest that it really would be a great mistake at the present time to bring any of those children back, with their increasing weight and height, and in view of the new form of education which has started in the reception areas.

Mr. Herbert Morrison

Is the hon. Gentleman aware that so far the Board of Education have refused to pay the Air-Raid Precautions Act grants for the protection of schools and are paying a grant of only 50 per cent., and will he give an undertaking that the Government will now bring the grant in respect of the protection of schools into line with the Air-Raid Precautions Act grants?

Mr. Lindsay

I am fully aware of what the.right hon. Gentleman has said, but I would rather that he directed that precise question to the Minister responsible. I would add that with this form of light protection, it is not expected that the sort of expenditure that has already been involved, especially in the neutral areas, will occur. Moreover, my right hon. Friend the Minister of Home Security is putting at the disposal of the local education authorities architects and surveyors to advise in this matter.

Mr. Mathers

(by Private Notice) asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether he is in a position to make a statement regarding the reopening of schools in Scottish evacuation areas?

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. Colville)

This question has been engaging my close attention for some time, and the decision of the Government, which has just been announced by my hon. Friend the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education, will apply to Scotland subject to such modification on points of detail as may be required to suit Scottish conditions. A full statement will be printed in the OFFICIAL REPORT in the form of a reply to a question by my hon. and learned Friend the Member for North Edinburgh (Mr. Erskine Hill).

Mr. Mathers

Does the right hon. Gentleman's statement mean, when he uses the word "modification," that he will go one better than the statement we have just heard in respect of England?

Mr. Colville

There are some difficulties in Scotland, but the registration of pupils in towns has been made, and it may be possible to get the schools opened a little quicker than in England.