§ 26 and 34. Mr. Lipsonasked (1) the President of the Board of Education, who is responsible for reimbursing a reception authority for additional expenditure incurred in the medical inspection of evacuated schoolchildren;
(2) the Minister of Health whether he will authorise the additional expenditure incurred by a reception authority in the inspection of evacuated schoolchildren to be charged to the evacuation account?
§ Mr. EdeWith the hon. Member's permission, I will answer both these Questions. As regards the medical inspection on arrival in the reception area of parties of evacuated children, additional expenditure necessarily incurred by the local authority may be included in their claim for reimbursement on the evacuation account. Additional expenditure incurred in the medical inspection of evacuated schoolchildren in the normal course of the School Medical Service is a matter for adjustment between the evacuation and reception authorities. The circumstances in which adjustment should be made and the basis of the adjustment have been under consideration by a committee representative of local education authorities, and I am sending my hon. Friend copies of the committee's reports.
§ Mr. LipsonWill these reports make it perfectly clear that the routine examination of these evacuated schoolchildren shall not be held up because reception areas and evacuating authorities cannot agree as to the allocation of financial liability?
§ Mr. EdeThe reports deal not with administration but with the financial arrangements for the settlement of accounts. But may I say, as one concerned in the original negotiations, that I believe that, in the great majority of cases, the administration proceeds and the financial arrangements are dealt with subsequently. There has been trouble in some cases, but the revision of what is known as the Davidson Report has very largely removed such grounds for that as formerly existed.