HC Deb 16 July 1942 vol 381 cc1343-5
34. Mr. Henderson Stewart

asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether, and to what extent, the Scottish Education Department is co-operating in the work of the committees recently set up under the chairmanship of Dr. McNair and Lord Fleming, respectively; and whether, and to what extent, Scotland benefits from, and participates in, the work of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts?

The Secretary of State for Scotland (Mr. T. Johnston)

The Scottish Education Department has already tendered information about the Scottish training system to the first Committee referred to in the Question, and I am keeping in close touch with the second Committee in so far as anything may emerge from its deliberations which impinges upon Scottish conditions. I am considering the re-constitution of the Advisory Council under Section 20 of the Education (Scotland) Act, 1918, with a view to its undertaking inquiries related to education in Scotland.

The work of the Council for the Encouragement of Music and the Arts extends to Scotland, and the Scottish Education Department is represented on

Mr. Brown

I beg to give notice, in view of that unsatisfactory reply and of the apparently complete lack of liaison between one Government Department and another, that I will raise this matter on the Adjournment.

Following are the details:

the Council. I am circulating in the OFFICIAL REPORT a brief summary of the activities of the Council in Scotland.

Mr. Stewart

Is the Scottish Education Department represented on either of the two Committees to which I have referred, and what is the assurance that Scottish interests are in fact reflected in the work of those Committees?

Mr. Johnston

In the body of my answer I said that I was considering referring matters relating to Scottish education to an Advisory Council on Education, but as the hon. Gentleman is no doubt aware, the terms of reference to the English Committees would not have been applicable to Scottish conditions.

Mr. Kenneth Lindsay

While I congratulate my right hon. Friend on the second part of his reply, would he consider remitting to that Council the problem of the training of teachers in Scotland and also the extension of the idea of the boarding school to the ordinary boy?

Mr. Johnston

I can assent to the first part of the Question, we are already considering that; but I should like to give more careful consideration to the second part of my hon. Friend's Supplementary Question.

Following is the summary referred to:

    c1345
  1. COUNCIL FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF MUSIC AND THE ARTS. 131 words