§ Mr. SPOORasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that the council of Dr. Barnardo's Village Homes, Ilford, have intimated to the local education authority that it will no longer be responsible for the education of 800 children now resident there; whether the Department have informed the Ilford Education Authority that the responsibility for the education of these children, gathered from all parts of the world, devolves upon it; and whether, in view of the precedent which is being created and of the great financial responsibility being suddenly added to the burdens of a local authority, he will have this matter reconsidered?
Mr. LEWISThe Barkingside Moss-ford Lodge School is aided by the Board of Education under Section 15 of the Education Act, 1902. The Board have1324W been informed by the local education authority that the Governors of the Barnardo's Homes contemplate the discontinuance of the maintenance of the school. The answer to the second part of the question is in the affirmative. The Board are in communication with the local education authority regarding the financial effect of certain proposals which the Governors are understood to have made for contributing to the cost of maintaining the school in future, and the Board are awaiting more precise information as to the effect of those proposals.