HC Deb 18 May 1950 vol 475 cc1371-3
19. Mr. J. Johnson

asked the Minister of Education the number of comprehensive and over £400, respectively, and what is the number of graduates in each case.

Mr. Tomlinson

As the answer contains a number of figures I will with permission circulate it in the OFFICIAL REPORT.

Following is the answer:

The number of full-time teachers employed in maintained and assisted schools or establishments in Buckinghamshire on 31st March, 1949, known to be receiving salaries of less than £300 a year, between £300 and £400 a year and over £400 a year respectively were as follows:

schools that are now actually in operation; and the total number of pupils who are in attendance.

Mr. Tomlinson

I would refer my hon. Friend to my answer of 16th May to my hon. Friend the Member for Stockton-on-Tees (Mr. Chetwynd), of which I am sending him a copy.

Mr. Johnson

Can my right hon. Friend give an assurance that these are all genuine comprehensive schools, in the sense that they are non-selective and that there is no special place examination attached to them?

Mr. Tomlinson

I can give this assurance: that they are comprehensive schools in the opinion of the people who are running them; but as every other person seems to have a different idea of what a comprehensive school is, I could not say that they all meet all the requirements of my hon. Friend.

Miss Bacon

Will my right hon. Friend do everything he can to encourage these schools and so abolish the dreadful system of deciding, when a child is 10 years of age, what its future shall be?

Mr. Tomlinson

I have been encouraging all kinds of schools, including these, over since I became Minister of Education.

20. Mr. Peart

asked the Minister of Education the number of local education authorities who have included comprehensive schools in their development plans.

Mr. Tomlinson

Eight local education authorities have included proposals for comprehensive, as distinct from multilateral, schools in their development plans, and 33 have included proposals for multilateral schools.

Mr. Peart

Will my right hon. Friend encourage local authorities to go in for this type of school development?

Mr. Tomlinson

I have asked local authorities to present development plans. They have made provision for all kinds of schools in those plans, and I am constantly being asked to expedite the approval of those plans. It seems to me that to ask them at this stage to begin revising the plans they have already made would be going a little too far.