School Building Programme

HC Deb 28 June 1956 vol 555 cc675-7

16. Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Education how many of the 330 schools included in the 1955–56 building programme but not started by 31st March have now been started; how many he estimates will have been started by the end of the calendar year; and how many schools in the current year's programme will be deferred on account of these arrears.

Sir D. Eccles

Of the 330 schools included in the 1955–56 programme but not started by 31st March, 130 had been started by 31st May, and about another 80 have been authorised to start this month. I expect that another 90 will have started by 31st December. As to the last part of the Question, I would refer the hon. Member to the Answer I have just given to the hon. Member for Stockton-on-Tees (Mr. Chetwynd).

Mr. Swingler

Do not these figures reveal a serious state of crisis in the school building programme? Is the Minister not aware that 30 per cent. of the programme which he approved as necessary for last year could not be started in the proper time? What guarantee have we that the programme which he says he has approved for this year will be started with only a few weeks' delay? Is it not a fact that the delays are increasing, and that the only solution is for the Minister to go to the Cabinet and demand an enlarged school building programme?

Sir D. Eccles

I believe that the programme of starts now authorised for this year is just about what can be done—[HON. MEMBERS: "That is what the right hon. Gentleman said last year."]—including this carry-over. If, in a year's time, we find that it is possible to do more, we will look at the situation again.

19. Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Education what is now the total number of school projects included in the 1956–57 school building programme.

Sir D. Eccles

I expect about 750 school projects to be started in the year ending 31st March, 1957.

Mr. Swingler

Is not that the figure which was originally put into the school building programme for this year? Are there not arrears of 330 projects from last year? Is the Minister really asking the House today to believe that he expects over 1,000 schools to be started in this building year when he could start only about 600 last year?

Sir D. Eccles

No. The 750 includes the carry-over from last year.

20. Mr. Swingler

asked the Minister of Education what representations he has received regarding the inadequacy of the current school-building programme; and what action he will take in response to these representations.

Sir D. Eccles

The Association of Education Committees asked me to increase the building programme for 1957–58 beyond the amount promised in Circular 306. I told it that, as explained in the circular, it might be possible to start some further school building in the last six months of that year if inflation had been checked.

Mr. Swingler

Is the Minister aware that the information which he has just given suggested that he was going to approve a programme of only about 440 schools for the year 1956–57, which is scarcely credible? Do not all these exchanges show the necessity for a comprehensive investigation of the position which has arisen concerning the necessity for school building and the position of local education authorities, so that we can ascertain how much larger a programme is necessary to avoid a serious drop in standards?

Sir D. Eccles

I think that if the hon. Member studies Circular 306, he will see that what we are doing is pushing out at the end of the current programme approximately the same amount as the carry-over from last year's programme.

29. Mr. J. Johnson

asked the Minister of Education what projects in the Warwickshire school building programme will have to be deferred as a result of his recent restrictions upon new primary and secondary schools.

Sir D. Eccles

The start of some projects will have to be deferred in accordance with paragraph 2 of Circular 306, but I cannot yet say which, because this will depend on their state of readiness.

Mr. Johnson

Is the Minister not aware that Warwickshire, of all counties, is least able to suffer his axe in this matter? I am sure he is aware that it has a large number of all-age schools. Will he bear that in mind when planning his future economies?

Sir D. Eccles

Yes, I am aware of the special difficulties in Warwickshire, and I am glad to say that all the schools which they had not started by 31st March have now been started.