§ 2. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of Education how many primary and secondary schools were under construction at the latest date for which figures are available; how many of these were comprehensive, grammar, and bilateral schools, respectively; and how the total figures compare with those for the same date in 1955.
§ Sir D. EcclesOn 31st January this year there were 309 primary and 510 secondary schools under construction, compared with 372 primary and 414 secondary schools a year earlier. I am sending the hon. Gentleman the further details for which he asks.
§ Mr. SwinglerIs the Minister aware that many education authorities, including that of Newcastle-under-Lyme, are very disturbed at the low and inadequate level of this programme? Will he not reconsider the position in view of the fact that we are only now beginning to experience the bulge in the secondary schools, and that many people are forecasting a very much worsening situation through overcrowding?
§ Sir D. EcclesIt is no use giving authorities more work than they can do; the hon. Gentleman's next Question deals with that particular subject.
§ 3. Mr. Swinglerasked the Minister of of Education if he will now publish in HANSARD a table showing, for each local authority, the number of schools included in the 1955–56 school building programme which had not been started by 31st March.
§ Sir D. EcclesYes.
§ Mr. SwinglerMay we know from the Minister how many schools had been scheduled to be started in the last building year but could not be started owing to the Government's lack of control over building resources?
§ Sir D. EcclesThe hon. Gentleman, I think, should study the list, which certainly contains one or two rather regrettable cases. I do not accept that it is a case of lack of building control. It is generally known that we are in a boom, in which the pressure upon building resources from industrial investment exceeded what we expected.
§ Dr. KingIs the Minister aware that local education authorities are behind in their school building programmes, that the speed has gone down because of unrestricted building of other kinds, and that, far from cutting those building programmes. as he has done, by some 200 schools, he should have tried to get materials for the local education authorities?
§ Sir D. EcclesThere is no way to help them better than the "squeeze." The hon. Gentleman will, I hope, agree that the "squeeze" is a good thing, and he will see that, as education is excepted, the schools will benefit.
§ Following is the table:
| Number of major primary and secondary school projects* in 1955–56 programme on which building work had not started by 31st March, 1956 | |
| ENGLAND | |
| Administrative county areas | |
| Bedfordshire | 6 |
| Berkshire | 3 |
| Buckinghamshire | 7 |
| Cheshire | 8 |
| Cornwall | 1 |
| Cumberland | 5 |
| Devon | 7 |
| Dorset | 1 |
| Durham | 4 |
| Essex | 6 |
| Gloucestershire | 4 |
| Hampshire | 4 |
| Herefordshire | 3 |
| Hertfordshire | 1 |
| Huntingdonshire | 3 |
| Isle of Ely | 2 |
| Kent | 23 |
| Lancashire | 14 |
| Lincs (Holland) | 3 |
| Lincs (Kesteven) | 4 |
| Lincs (Lindsey) | 1 |
| Middlesex | 21 |
| Northamptonshire | 2 |
| Northumberland | 7 |
| Oxfordshire | 6 |
| Salop | 3 |
| Somerset | 3 |
| Staffordshire | 20 |
| Suffolk, West | 2 |
| Surrey | 35 |
| Sussex, East | 4 |
| Sussex, West | 7 |
| Warwickshire | 4 |
| Westmorland | 1 |
| Wiltshire | 3 |
| Worcestershire | 6 |
| Yorks: East Riding | 1 |
| Yorks: North Riding | 5 |
| Yorks: West Riding | 6 |
| LONDON | 7 |
| County boroughs | |
| Birkenhead | 1 |
| Birmingham | 14 |
| Blackpool | 2 |
| Bolton | 1 |
| Bournemouth | 1 |
| Bradford | 3 |
| Bristol | 3 |
| Carlisle | 1 |
| Dudley | I |
| Gateshead | 2 |
| Leeds | 3 |
| Liverpool | 1 |
| Manchester | 1 |
| Middlesbrough | 1 |
| Northampton | 1 |
| Nottingham | 2 |
| Oxford | 1 |
| Plymouth | 4 |
| Reading | 1 |
| Rotherham | 1 |
| St Helens | 1 |
| Sheffield | 4 |
| Southampton | 1 |
| Southport | 1 |
| South Shields | 2 |
| Sunderland | 1 |
| Tynemouth | 1 |
| Wallasey | 1 |
| Walsall | 1 |
| West Bromwich | 1 |
| West Ham | 1 |
| WALES | |
| Administrative county areas | |
| Denbighshire | 1 |
| Glamorgan | 6 |
| Pembrokeshire | 2 |
| Radnor | 1 |
| County boroughs | |
| Merthyr Tydfil | 1 |
| Newport (Mon.) | 3 |
| Swansea | 3 |
| * The list covers all projects costing more than £10,000, whether complete new schools or extensions to or adaptation of existing premises |