§ 40. Mr. Dunnasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether he is aware that elementary schools in the West Riding of Yorkshire are closed owing to no air-raid shelters being provided; that three schools are now closed in Maltby in the West Riding of Yorkshire; that many children are deprived of their education; that builders and their staffs who could immediately do the necessary work are out of work; and will he take steps to see that the services of these builders are utilised at once to construct the necessary shelters, and enable education to be carried on?
§ The Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (Mr. Kenneth Lindsay)I am aware that some elementary schools in the West Riding are closed pending the provision of air-raid shelters. Of the four elementary schools in Maltby, one is closed, one is open in full session, one is in part-time session, half the children attending in the morning and half in the afternoon, and the other is to open next Monday for the instruction of small groups of children while shelter is being completed. I am informed that delay in the construction of shelters has been due in the main to difficulty in 406 obtaining materials and sites for trenches: the authority do, in fact, I understand, employ local builders where possible.