HC Deb 27 June 1940 vol 362 cc596-7
49. Mr. Cary

asked the President of the Board of Education whether his attention has been drawn to the fact that schools where children are boarded will be breaking up next month; and, therefore, while communications and transport are still reasonably good, will he issue instructions that pupils up to the age of 16 are to be returned to parents at once, unless their homes are within the prescribed danger zone of the East Coast?

Mr. Ramsbotham

Neither my right hon. Friend the Minister of Home Security, whom I have consulted, nor I think it desirable that any such general instructions should be issued. The question of closing any particular boarding school before the end of term on account of war conditions is one for the school authorities to determine in the light of the circumstances of each case, subject, of course, to any directions by the competent military or civil authority.