EDUCATION (EXEMPTIONS)(SCOTLAND) BILL. [H.L.] (Hansard, 15 April 1947)

§ Lord MORRISON
My Lords, this short Bill of two clauses is one of the unfortunate necessities arising out of the food shortage. I will endeavour to explain the position to your Lordships as briefly as I can. Scottish farmers are being asked to maintain a potato acreage considerably above the 1939 level. The acreage for potatoes in Scotland in 1939 was 135,000, and the target figure for 1947 is 220,000 acres. A larger acreage than that was achieved during the war, at least in one year; but 220,000 acres is the figure which has been fixed for the present year. The potato growers of Scotland cannot reasonably be expected to do this unless they can be assured that 1030 adequate labour will be available to lift the crop.
It is estimated that, even with the employment of all available labour, such as unemployed, prisoners of war, Poles, and men of the Services who are available, there will still be a shortage of 22,000 for the ingathering of the 1947 potato crop in Scotland. And in the following year, 1948, the position may be even more difficult, owing to the repatriation of prisoners of war. For many years before the war it was the custom for school children in the main potato-growing district areas in Scotland to help to gather in the potato crop. During the war it became necessary to organize this. help on an increased scale and to make, use of the services of school children from the cities. There were two methods of releasing children from school: the first was by splitting the school holiday and making part of it coincide with the potato harvest; and the second method was by granting exemption from attendance at school. It is still possible for education authorities to adopt the first method, of splitting the school holidays in two; but this method is neither satisfactory nor efficient, and, if I may, I will explain to your Lordships why.
It is unpopular with most education authorities and with the parents of children. It interferes seriously with school work. As arrangements have to be made well in advance, it can take no account of the weather, and often the potato holiday coincides with a period of unsuitable weather for lifting potatoes, when no progress can be made with the potato harvest. When this method was discussed recently with the education authorities, the great majority were emphatic that effective assistance could not be given by this method.
With regard to the second method of granting exemption from attendance at school, education authorities can no longer adopt it because the power to do so was abolished by law as from April 1, the day on which the school leaving age was raised to 15. In these circumstances the great majority of education authorities are of opinion that the only effective way of ensuring that the help of school children will be available is to restore a system of granting exemption from school attendance. The Government have therefore decided, with great reluctance, that it is 1031 necessary to ask your Lordships and another place to restore the system of exemptions for this limited purpose. Your Lordships may wish to know the main reasons for this decision. They are three: first, and perhaps most important of all, the vital national importance of securing the largest potato harvest; secondly, the impossibility of doing this without the help of thousands of school children; and, thirdly, the emphatic opinion of the large majority of education authorities in favour of exemption rather than splitting the summer holidays. The Government have also decided, and I trust your Lordships will agree, that the restoration should be limited to the period during which it can be clearly foreseen that the help of school children will be essential, and that adequate provision must be made for their health and welfare.
Accordingly, the following four provisions have been included in the Bill. The first is that the Act is to remain in force until the end of 1948. It is hoped that by 1949 a smaller potato acreage will be adequate, thus making it possible to gather the crop without the help of school children, and also that experiments at present proceeding in the design of machines for potato lifting may have been proved successful. Secondly, the Bill provides that the exemption should be granted on the application of the parents; and thirdly, the minimum age for employment is the age of thirteen. Previously the minimum age for employment of school children on school days was twelve; that has now been raised to thirteen. Fourthly, the Secretary of State for Scotland is empowered to make regulations authorizing the refusal or withdrawal of exemptions, prescribing conditions under which children may be employed, and prohibiting the employment of exempted children in other employments. It is intended in the regulations to limit the number of days of exemption to fifteen.
Your Lordships may be interested to know the position in England. Under Defence Regulations due to expire on December 31 next, children in England may be granted exemption from school for employment in agricultural work of a seasonal nature. There is also a provision in the Education Act, 1944, Section 39, for school children, with the approval of 1032 the Minister, to be granted leave from school for temporary employment to overcome difficulties arising out of war conditions. In conclusion, the plan of this Bill is briefly as follows. The Secretary of State will serve a notice stating that it is desirable that a specified number of children resident in the area should be granted exemption on days from time to time to be notified to the education authority. It will then become the duty of the authority to grant exemption up to the specified number. The notice will be issued some time before the harvest begins, so that all concerned may make the necessary arrangements in good time. The actual days will be notified as the harvest progresses. This will be done by agriculture executive committees, acting on behalf of the Secretary of State. I hope that I have made clear the provisions of this small Bill, and also the need for it, and I trust that your Lordships will see your way to give it a Second Reading. I beg to move.

§ The DUKE of BUCCLEUCH and QUEENSBERRY
My Lords, I am confident that there will be agreement that this Bill is necessary and desirable, but before a Second Reading is accorded to it I would like to ask the noble Lord, in view of the uncertainty and anxiety about the labour force next autumn, and again in 1948, whether it is the intention of the Government to operate the proposals energetically and wholeheartedly and to carry them out in full. Also, in view of what the noble Lord says about the position in 1948, I hope the Government will bear in mind the shortage of houses in the agricultural districts, and that the noble Lord will use his influence with the Secretary of State for Scotland to ensure more rapid provision of new houses, and modernization of existing houses. I hope it will be borne in mind that private builders, and a great many land owners, as well as local authorities, are anxious to do these things as soon as the shortage is overcome and the restrictions can be removed. Your Lordships will note that the provisions under this Bill are narrower in Scotland than those which apply to England. The concession asked of the education authorities and teachers appears to be smaller in Scotland than it is in 1033 England. I do hope that in this respect full co-operation will be sought.

§ Lord TEVIOT
My Lords, in my capacity as Chairman of the National Joint Council for Scotland, which is the equivalent to the Burnham Committee here, I would like to say that I am grateful to the noble Lord who has moved the Second Reading of this Bill. I have not had an opportunity of consulting my Council on this subject, but from what I gather from the very lucid explanation of the Bill which the noble Lord has given, I feel confident that he will have full support from the local authorities' representatives, and also from the teachers institutes' representatives. I would like to add one further word augmenting what my noble friend the Duke of Buccleuch has just said. I would like to see a rather wider interpretation of what the children will be able to do, bringing it into line with what they are permitted to do in England in regard to seasonal harvesting. I thank the noble Lord for his very lucid speech.

§ Lord BALFOUR of INCHRYE
My Lords, I am sure that all noble Lords on this side of the House are grateful to the noble Lord who moved the Second Reading of this Bill. The noble Lord said that he did it with great reluctance, and we also give it support reluctantly, because I feel sure that every one must regret the necessity of a step towards a greater measure of juvenile employment as a result of economic conditions, just when the whole attention of the country is focussed upon greater educational facilities and opportunities for youth. It is, indeed, a curious political anomaly that a Socialist Government, pledged to and intent upon advancing education and opportunities for youth in this country, should be under the unfortunate necessity of having to introduce such a measure as this. It is an indication of the seriousness of the food situation. It would be inappropriate to enlarge upon this, but I feel that noble Lords will agree; and I hope wide attention outside this House will be given to this Bill, not only for what it does but because it is yet another warning of the crisis that many of us see looming ahead in the next eighteen months concerning the food situation in this country. The more we can turn 1034 people's attention to this problem, indeed, the more we on this side of the House can press the urgency of the problem on the Government, the greater are the hopes of overcoming that crisis when it is upon us.
There are just two questions which I would like to ask the noble Lord. The first is: Approximately how many children does the noble Lord hope to obtain for juvenile labour to make up the deficiency of 22,000 in the labour force required in the current year? Does he hope to get 5,000, 10,000 or what number?

§ Lord MORRISON
22,000.

§ Lord BALFOUR of INCHRYE
Do I understand the noble Lord hopes to make up the gap in the labour force entirely by the children employed?

§ Lord MORRISON
Yes.

§ Lord BALFOUR of INCHRYE
The second question relates to subsection (3)(b) of Clause 1, which seems to me to be the most important provision of the whole Bill, prescribing the conditions upon which children exempted under this Bill may he employed. Can the noble Lord tell us that the authorities concerned will look to the food, to the protection from adverse weather conditions and to reasonable medical and health care of the children who will be employed under these exemptions? I feel that every one who reads this Bill would be reassured if it were known that children were not to suffer under any of those heads because of their employment under this measure. We do not want children getting serious illnesses, or being under-nourished, and we do not want them suffering severely and unnecessarily in respect of their clothes, if it can be avoided. If the noble Lord can tell us that the Government will see that those responsible will look carefully into these conditions, I feel that we shall have a measure of reassurance that will be very welcome.

§ Lord MORRISON
My Lords, I am obliged to the noble Lords who have taken part in this short debate for the sympathetic manner in which they have received this Bill. The noble Duke, the Duke of Buccleuch, said he hoped it was the intention of the Secretary of State to carry out the provisions of this Bill, when it became an Act, with energy. I can 1035 assure him that it is. The position under this Bill as compared with the previous position will be this. Previously it was optional upon any local education authority either to take action or to take no action as it chose, and the result was that bad feeling was aroused as between authorities who were doing all they possibly could and others who chose to do nothing at all. Under the provisions of this Bill when it becomes an Act it will be compulsory upon the local education authorities to endeavour to obtain the quota of children needed for their area.
I am afraid I cannot comment upon the suggestion of the noble Lord, Lord Teviot, that perhaps this Bill is a little tight in confining itself strictly to the potato harvest. If he feels disposed to try to widen it, that will be a matter for discussion on the Committee stage, but at the present time all the arrangements are being made for concentrating the effort for 1947 and 1948 upon getting in as large a potato harvest as possible. It may be a little optimistic, but it is hoped that after 1948 it may be possible to get in the potato harvest without calling upon the labour of school children.
The noble Lord, Lord Balfour of Inchrye, recalled that I said at the beginning of my speech that I moved this Second Reading with reluctance. That is true. No noble Lord on any side of the House looks forward to continuing the time when young children have to be used to get in our food supplies. After all, they are entitled to their proper holidays in the same way as everybody else. The noble Lord then went on, rightly, to ask about the conditions which are to be laid down. I can say only that those conditions will have due regard to the health and wellbeing of the children. There will be a variety of circumstances. Some of the school children—and I would emphasize that the parents must give their consent—will be able to go to the places on foot if they are near enough, whilst others will have to be conveyed; yet another section may have to be taken to billets or hutments and remain there, as they do in the hopfields in Kent. As I have mentioned the hopfields, perhaps I may say that from the inquiries I have made into this matter I am perfectly sure that the authorities in Scotland are—dare I say it?—even more wide awake to the need for looking after and safeguarding 1036 the health of the children than are those responsible for the children who go to the Kentish hopfields. I again thank the noble Lords who have given this Bill their blessing.