§ Mr. Astorasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if he will arrange for Government grants to be made available to local education authorities to cover the cost of nursery classes which are started to help relieve the national shortage of teachers.
§ Mr. CroslandUnder the Local Government Act, 1958, Exchequer assistance towards expenditure on the education service is provided through the general grant, and no additional grant can be made available for this specific purpose during the current period. I am sure that local education authorities will not be deterred by financial considerations from taking advantage of the discretion I have given them in Addendum No. 2 to Circular 8/60 to establish new nursery classes where these would result in more teachers for the schools.