§ 15. Mr. Sorensenasked the Minister of Education how many children in the county of Essex qualified for grammar school education but are attending independent schools for this purpose; what is the number of pupils in those schools whose fees are being paid from public funds; and what are the regulations determining the entrance of those children into those schools.
§ Sir E. BoyleThe authority's records do not show how many children qualified for selective education are attending independent schools, but 2,019 are at present receiving help with fees, 1379 in whole or in part. Under the authority's regulations a little under two-thirds of these children have places which make good deficiences in the authority's own provision, while the remainder are helped on an income scale to go to independent schools of their parents' choice.
§ Mr. SorensenIs the number increasing or decreasing? Have parents the option in certain circumstances of sending their children to a more convenient independent school than to a grammar school? Is the whole question of the relationship between State schools and independent schools now open for revision?
§ Sir E. BoyleI have not the precise figures, but the authority is taking up only a small number of what one might call new "deficiency places", because it now generally has adequate provision of its own, although this does not affect holders of existing places. I should not feel justified in criticising the Essex local authority for the arrangement which it makes.