§ 7. Miss Burtonasked the Minister of Education whether the United Kingdom delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation has yet been invited to participate in the Organisation's study of the place of sport in education; and what reply has been given to such invitation.
§ Mr. Geoffrey LloydThere is no outstanding invitation to the United Kingdom to take part in a study of this subject.
§ Miss BurtonIs the Minister aware that I am trying to elicit information on this point? As we are members of U.N.E.S.C.O., may we assume that if our delegate is invited to take part in any particular work there, apart from the merits of the case, he will accept such an invitation?
§ Mr. LloydThe position is that there was an invitation some time ago which was declined for what were thought to be good reasons, namely, the desire to keep U.N.E.S.C.O. to the most practical and worth-while subjects. On the other hand, I have read the Report and, while it is interesting, I must point out that the English idea of sport is such that the English do not like professional professorial discourses on sport. At the same time, I can see that there is some rather interesting information, perhaps, for some countries which are backward in education matters.