Mr. Amoryasked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether he will arrange for the cost of educational classes provided by local education authorities for the benefit of inmates of His Majesty's prisons to be met from the funds of his Department rather than from local education authority funds.
§ Mr. EdeLocal education authorities have statutory power to provide educational facilities for persons in legal custody and the present arrangements under which the usual Exchequer grant is payable on all expenditure incurred was agreed between my right hon. Friends the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Minister of Education and myself. I welcome this oppor-142W tunity of expressing my appreciation of the excellent work being done by the local education authorities in providing classes in prisons and Borstals and of their wholehearted co-operation in this important field.