HC Deb 14 March 1968 vol 760 cc1604-5
29. Mr. Lomas

asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he is aware that of the £26,000 made available to the Huddersfield local authority, towards the cost of immigrants in the borough, little is directly available to the education committee for use for the benefit of the 10 per cent. immigrant school population; and whether he will authorise an immediate grant to meet this need.

Mr. Denis Howell

Eighty-two per cent. of this sum relates to the salaries of teachers and others employed in the education service. These grants are the responsibility of my right hon. Friend the Secretary of State for the Home Department.

Mr. Lomas

Is my hon. Friend aware that those are not the facts as I know them in Huddersfield? Does he appreciate that they have a real problem there, and that, proportionately, we have a higher number of immigrant school children almost than any other place in the country? Will he consider sending someone from his Department to study this, and discuss it with the education authority?

Mr. Howell

I have visited Huddersfield quite recently and studied the matter and discussed it with the authority. It seems that my hon. Friend is suggesting that there is a difference of opinion between the Finance Committee and the Education Committee. I can tell him that the Huddersfield Corporation is one and indivisible, and that when we pay money to it for grants to teachers in respect of immigrants, it is not our concern how it disperses that money. I am aware of the serious problem, and I assure my hon. Friend that I am continuing to keep it under very close review.