§ Lords Amendment: In page 76, line 28, leave out "young people's," and insert "county."
§ Mr. ButlerI beg to move, "That this House doth disagree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
I have given notice of a manuscript Amendment, to leave out the words "or 978 young people's college" and to insert "college or institution." The wording was found not to be correct in the definition Clause and it followed that we should amend it in order to make the Bill read correctly.
Question put, and agreed to.
Amendment made to the Bill in lieu of the Lords Amendment last disagreed to, in page 76, line 28, leave out "young people's college," and insert "college or institution."— [Mr. Butler.]
Subsequent Lords Amendment in page 76, line 43, agreed to.
Lords Amendment: In page 76, line 45, leave out from "authority" to "and" in page 77, line 1, and insert:
for the purpose of securing, so far as is practicable, that the character of the school as a voluntary school is preserved and developed, and, in particular, that the school is conducted in accordance with the provisions of any trust deed relating thereto.
§ Mr. ButlerI beg to move, "That this House doth agree with the Lords in the said Amendment."
This is a redefinition which was thought advisable in order to meet certain representations made in regard to the constitution of the body of managers. I hasten to add that the redraft is not in the interests of the denomination only since it is under this redraft it would be possible to appoint a Free Churchman or to the body of-foundation managers. This Amendment carries out an undertaking given earlier, and I think it improves and clarifies the constitution of the managerial body of the school.
Question put, and agreed to.
Subsequent Lords Amendments to page 80, line 16, agreed to.
Lords Amendment: In page 80, line 25, at end, insert:
(4) Where before the date of the commencement of Part II of this Act a syllabus of religious instruction had been adopted by a former authority for use in any school which after that date is a county school or an auxiliary school or for any class or description of pupils, that syllabus shall be deemed to be the agreed syllabus for that school, or for that class or that description of pupils as the case may be, until a syllabus in substitution therefor is prepared in accordance with the provisions of the Seventh Schedule to this Act and adopted or deemed to be adopted thereunder or until the expiration of twelve months after the said date whichever first occurs.Lords Amendment read a Second time.
§ Mr. ButlerI beg to move, as an Amendment to the Lords Amendment, in line to leave out "twelve months," and to insert "two years."
It has been represented that 12 months is an insufficient time in which to prepare an agreed syllabus, and that might well be the case. The agreed syllabuses now in use have taken longer than 12 months to prepare, and the Government are accordingly in favour of giving a longer time. We suggest that we agree with the Lords after we have substituted, as an Amendment to the Lords Amendment, two years as the period in which an agreed syllabus might be framed.
§ Mr. HarveyIt is obvious that the Amendment proposed by the Minister is a great improvement because there might be real difficulty in getting a syllabus satisfactorily arranged within one year. But could the President of the Board of Education tell the House what might happen if agreement was not reached? There is, as far as I can see, no provision made for that.
§ Mr. Butler : May I, with the permission of the House, clarify the matter? If my hon. Friendwill turn to the provisions of the Seventh Schedule he will see that we made an Amendment whereby a body of persons is set up by the Minister to frame a syllabus if agreement has not been reached locally.
§ Amendment to the Lords Amendment agreed to.
§ Lords Amendment, as amended, agreed to.
§ Subsequent Lords Amendment in page 8, line 27, agreed to.