§ Sir J. D. REESasked the President of the Board of Education what additional 459W duties have been imposed upon local education authorities by law during the last nine or ten years; and what amount of special new Grant has been placed at the disposal of local education authorities accordingly?
§ Mr. HERBERT FISHERThe only provisions in any Education Acts which impose new duties on local education authorities in the last ten years are those contained in Section 12 (1) (b) of the Education (Administrative Provisions) Act, 1907, and in the Elementary Education (Defective and Epileptic Children) Act, 1914. The Grant paid to local education authorities in respect of expenditure under the first Act incurred in the exercise of their powers of medical treatment as well as in the performance of their duty of medical inspection was £l96,571 in 1915–16, and is estimated at £195,500 in 1916–17. The second Act makes the obligation imposed on the authority conditional on the provision of Parliamentary Grants equal to half the cost.