§ 16. Sir A. Hurdasked the Minister of Education if he will state the percentage increases over the past ten years in the numbers of schoolchildren and expenditure on school buildings works in Berkshire compared with England and Wales as a whole.
§ Sir D. EcclesIn numbers of schoolchildren 21 per cent. for England and Wales, 64 per cent. for Berkshire. In expenditure on school building, 60 per cent. for England and Wales, 526 per cent. for Berkshire.
§ Sir A. HurdBecause Berkshire's need is evidently greater.
Will my right hon. Friend bear in mind, when he has further funds to allocate for school building, not only the need for new schools but for the extension of existing schools, because full weight will still need to be given to counties like Berkshire which have exceptionally big increases in the number of school children and are finding the facilities for teaching them very difficult?
§ Sir D. EcclesI went to Berkshire and I realise the difficulty that they have there through the school population increasing so fast.