§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the Government's present policy, towards schools, within the maintained sector which have boarding places, seeking pupils from other local education authorities.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonMy right hon. Friend does not consider that the existence of local authority boundaries should be an obstacle to the provision of boarding education where there is a need for it. Section 6(1) of the Education (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 1948 enables the 53W providing authority in such cases to recover the cost of tuition from the child's home authority unless my right hon. Friend otherwise directs. In certain circumstances expenditure on the provision of education for boarding pupils may be shared by all local education authorities. To try to ensure that boarding places in the maintained sector do not go unused my right hon. Friend is financing on an experimental basis a clearing house run by the Boarding Schools Association to provide information about the availability of boarding places in maintained schools.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science if the Government have any plans to encourage boarding schools within the maintained sector to increase the number of places which they have available to overseas students.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonNo, since I understand that the admission of overseas children to this country for the sole purpose of attending a maintained school would be precluded by the Immigration Act 1971.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science how many boarding places are available within the maintained sector of education; and how this figure compares with (a) 10 years ago and (b) five years ago.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonOther than handicapped pupils, there were 9,739 boarders at schools maintained by local education authorities in England and Wales in January 1978, compared with 10,736 in 1973 and 11,347 in 1968.
§ Mr. Nicholas Wintertonasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what role the Government see for boarding education within the maintained sector of education.
§ Miss Margaret JacksonAs I said in reply to my hon. Friend the Member for Lichfield and Tamworth (Mr. Grocott) on 16th March 1978, my right hon. Friend believes that boarding education should be available for those children for whom—for a variety of reasons—it is appropriate, and views with concern the decline in the provision of boarding places in maintained schools.