§ Sir M. CONWAYasked the President of the Board of Education whether, having regard to the best interests of education, he can make such an alteration in Article 20 of the Boards Regulations for the administration of secondary schools as to enable any free place granted under conditions approved by the secondary school, or any prescribed number of such 1141W free places, to be reckoned as qualifying as regards Article 20 for grant from the Board, whether the holders of such free places have or have not been pupils of a public elementary school?
§ Lord E. PERCYI may refer the hon. Member to the reply which I gave him on 12th February last. I have great sympathy with the desire to avoid discrimination between different types of school, and in principle I should wish to treat all efficient schools as parts of one national system of education, but I do not think it is unreasonable to reserve 25 per cent. of the accommodation in grant-aided secondary schools for pupils from public elementary schools who are unable to pay fees. The point raised by the hon. Member would, however, deserve consideration if it were decided to amend the Regulations in the direction of increasing this percentage.