DIOCESAN EDUCATION COMMITTEES MEASURE (Hansard, 20 February 1951)

§ Sir Richard Acland (Gravesend)

I beg to move, That the Diocesan Education Committees Measure, 1943 (Amendment) Measure 1951, passed by the National Assembly of the Church of England, be presented to His Majesty for His Royal Assent in the form in which the said Measure was laid before Parliament. This is a small amending Measure which I do not think need occupy the time of the House for more than a minute or two. It has come before the Ecclesiastical Committee of this House, which has approved of it. It is a slight alteration of the powers of the diocesan authorities which seems necessary as a result of six years' experience of working under the Education Act of 1944. Clause 1 arises in the following way. Before the Education Act, 1944, it was necessary that there should be a diocesan education committee, and powers in the original Measure were taken, as a result of which many or indeed most of the dioceses set up diocesan education committees composed of men and women of wide experience in all aspects of educational questions.

Some dioceses, however, adopted existing committees, which consist of no doubt very worthy people but of people whose experience was limited only to the work of running and caring for primary church schools. Under the existing Measure, which this Measure seeks to amend, once a Committee has been set up there is no power of altering it or substituting a committee with a wider basis of educational experience. The amending Measure will go to the diocesan conferences with power to recommend the Minister of Education, upon receiving such a recommendation, to set up in these dioceses, committees on a wider basis.

Clause 2 that this Measure arises in the following way—the diocesan education committees have always had the right and power to advise local trustees on village schools as to the running of those schools. Now the situation arises where schools have to be closed. Then there is endowment property which is to be used for some diocesan educational purpose. Under the existing Measure the diocesan education committee has not got the right and the duty to advise the 1207 local trustees on educational endowments as to the way in which these endowments shall be used, and that power is given to the diocesan committee.

The second part of Clause 2 imposes upon the church education endowment trustees the duty of informing the diocesan education committees of any change in the use of endowment property. Clause 3 simply alters the wording of the definition, and the various words used in the original Measure to bring this definition into line with the Act of Parliament which has been passed since. I hope the House will agree to this non-controversial Measure and will pass it.