§ Mr. JOYNSON-HICKSasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that his Department has made a deduction of £20 in the Grant to the Heston and Isleworth Urban District education committee in respect of Hounslow Grove school on the ground of over-crowding; whether he is aware that there is school accommodation in the district for 7,163 children, with an average attendance for the year ending 31st March last of only 5,891, or an excess of 1,272 school places; whether he is aware that the delay in building a new school was entirely occasioned by the difficulty of finding a suitable site and of getting his Board's sanction thereto; and whether, under the circumstances, he would personally consider the matter with a view to restoring the Grant?
Mr. PEASEThe deduction was made on account of continued overcrowding at the school in question, after repeated warnings. The hon. Member will recognise that the hardship upon children and teachers occasioned by overcrowding in one school is in no way mitigated by the existence of sufficient accommodation in other schools in other parts of the area of the authority. The authority were warned in June of last year that there were certain legal difficulties connected with the acquisition of the proposed site, that delay would be unavoidable, and that sufficient temporary accommodation should be found to relieve the overcrowding and to provide for children already excluded from the school. I do not think I should be justified in paying the full Grant in this case, as the overcrowding was continued in spite of the warnings of the Board.