§ Mr. Liddallasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education (1) whether he has consulted with the governing bodies of the universities and of the public and secondary schools, with a view to their contributing towards solving the holiday spread-over problem by taking the initiative in rearranging their vacations; and will he state the nature of the steps proposed thus far by the authorities in question;
(2) whether he will suggest to the authorities of the universities and of the provincial public and secondary schools in the south and west of England that they should retain pupils in session in the country during the month of August, so as to allow other scholars and parents from crowded urban districts to take holidays away from home in hot weather with greater comfort that the spread-over would thus allow?
Mr. LindsayAs my right hon. Friend the Minister of Labour has stated, consideration of the steps required to secure a spread-over of the summer holidays, if that course should be shown to be desirable, must await the report of the Committee on Holidays with Pay. In these circumstances, my Noble Friend considers that it would be premature to initiate at this juncture discussions on the matter with local education authorities and governing bodies of educational institutions.