HC Deb 23 July 1953 vol 518 cc584-5
38. Mr. Fernyhough

asked the Minister of Education how many parents and guardians have been prosecuted during the last 18 months for failing to send their children to school.

Miss Horsbrugh

Local education authorities are responsible for administering the law relating to school attendance, and I have no means of securing this information without asking all of them, which I should not consider justifiable.

Mr. Fernyhough

Does not the right hon. Lady think it would be a good thing if it worked both ways, and that those who fail to provide places for children should be prosecuted equally with those who fail to send their children to school?

Miss Horsbrugh

If the hon. Gentleman is referring to the entrance of children of five years into school, if he will look at the Act of 1948 he will see that they need not go into school during the term, but, if it would be more convenient, they can go in at the beginning of the term after they have reached the age of five.