Dr. RUTHERFORDasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that his Department, in a letter dated 9th April, 1881, directed the School Board for London to estimate the number of children requiring school places in any district by taking the sum total of the children of the elementary school class actually enumerated by the School Board visitors at their annual scheduling of the child population, and to deduct 12½ per cent., according to the rule adopted by the Education Department; whether this practice is still followed by the Board of Education and the local education authority; and, if not, what alterations have been made, and what are the reasons for them?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANThe arrangement for ascertaining the number of school places required in London, which was arrived at between the School Board for London and the Education Department in 1881, was as follows:—From the number of children between the ages of three and thirteen scheduled by the School Board visitors a deduction of 121 per cent, was made, and to the figure thus obtained the actual number of children over thirteen years of age attending Elementary Schools was added. By the method now adopted by the London County Council, from the number of children scheduled between three and fourteen years of age a deduction of 14 per cent, is made, and from the figure so obtained the actual number of children over 14 years of age attending Public Elementary Schools is added. The reasons for increasing the, deduction from 12½ per cent, to 14 per cent, were understood to be that the scheduled figures include a considerable number of children, (a) who are properly accommodated in Special Schools for the Blind, Deaf, and Defective, and (b) who are being educated in Secondary Schools. While general principles of this character are obviously of assistance to the Board in estimating the amount of accommodation required, it has been the practice of the Board for a considerable number of years past to consider questions of school accommodation with reference to the particular circumstances of the district rather than according to any statistical rules which have not the same application in all parts of London.