§ 44. Sir C. Osborneasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the estimated number of coloured immigrant children in school; and in what areas they are mostly being educated.
§ Miss BaconIn January, 1967 there were about 144,000 immigrant pupils from the West Indies, Africa, India and Pakistan in schools with ten or more immigrant pupils on roll. About 60 per cent. of the total number of immigrant pupils were in the Greater London area and the South-East, about 17 per cent. in the West Midlands and about 6 per cent. in each of the East Midlands, Yorkshire and Humberside and the North-West regions.
§ 45. Sir C. Osborneasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science, in view of the fact that in the month of December, 1967, under Part I of the Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 1,242 children from India, 573 from Jamaica and 1,742 from Pakistan were admitted to the United Kingdom with inadequate knowledge of the English language, what new steps is he taking to ensure that British children's education is not affected by the need to provide for these additional children.
§ Miss BaconMy hon. Friend the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State recently visited many of the areas with immigrant children and discussed with the local education authorities how more help might be given to teachers and schools with immigrant pupils. These questions have been further considered at a series of regional conferences between central and local government officials and Her Majesty's Inspectors of schools. The aim of the discussions is to ensure that no children, whether immigrants or not, are, held back by inadequate provision in the schools to meet their individual needs.