HC Deb 07 March 1983 vol 38 cc556-7
22. Mr. Greenway

asked the hon. Member for Wokingham, as representing the Church Commissioners, how much the Church Commissioners had paid from their general fund to the Central Board of Finance for the improvement or extension of Church of England schools to the latest convenient date.

Sir William van Straubenzee

The commissioners were empowered in 1958 to make payments to the central board of finance totalling not more than £1 million over 25 years for this purpose. The allocation was completed in 1978.

Mr. Greenway

I thank my hon. Friend for that reply. Is he aware of the Labour party's extreme pressure against Church schools, directly and through the Socialist Education Association, as instanced by the pressure against establishing the new Church of England Twyford high school in Ealing by the whole of the Labour party national executive and many Left-wing clerics? Is my hon. Friend aware that the year before Twyford school became a Church of England school there were 54 first choices for the 240 places, but that this year, two years after it became a Church school, in the face of strenuous opposition from the Labour party, there are 253 applications for 180 places? Is that not clear evidence of strong parental support for Church schools?

Sir William van Straubenzee

There is good evidence that in many, perhaps all, parts of the country there is strong support by parents for Church schools of all denominations. The penetrating figures given by my hon. Friend seem to justify the expenditure that I announced in my main answer.