HC Deb 22 April 1909 vol 3 c1794W
Sir MAURICE LEVY

asked the President of the Board of Education whether the managers of endowed schools, either of schools assisted out of the rates or schools entirely self-supporting, have the power to refuse admission to such schools solely on the ground of the unvaccinated condition of the applicants; whether such managers have the power to exclude a pupil, after previous admission, solely on the ground of his unvaccinated condition; and, in the event of the managers having such power, whether he will add a clause to the next Bill dealing with educational matters which will remove such a disability from unvaccinated children?

Mr. RUNCIMAN

I am advised that governors of endowed schools regulated by schemes made under the Endowed Schools Acts and Charitable Trusts Acts are not as a rule prohibited by the scheme from excluding an unvaccinated child if they consider that so to do would promote the welfare of their trust. But in the case of schools, whether endowed or not, which receive grants from the Board under their secondary school regulations, the Board would not regard the absence of vaccination as a reasonable ground for the exclusion of a day pupil, though they would be unwilling to interfere with the discretion of the governors in the case of boarders.