§ Mr. HENRY WALKERasked the President of the Board of Education, with reference to the decision of the Government in 1904, that the educational inspection of all the boarding schools to which Poor Law children are sent should be undertaken by the Board of Education; whether his Department is now actually carrying out the educational inspection of all such schools, or only of the schools under the management of boards of guardians and the 23 among all the certified schools on which a Report was made in 1908; and, if all boarding schools to which Poor Law children are sent are not yet being so inspected, when such educational inspection is to be undertaken?
§ Mr. RUNCIMAN1. The arrangement made in 1904 transferred to the Board of Education the educational inspection of (i) all the schools conducted by boards of guardians and managers of Poor Law school districts, now numbering about 66;2252W and (ii) such of the schools certified by the Local Government Board under the Act of 1862 for the reception of Poor Law children as were then inspected by the Local Government Board inspectors of Poor Law schools, numbering 23. This arrangement is still being carried out. 2. I understand from the Local Government Board that the total number of institutions certified by them under the Act of 1862 is now 275. 3. Of these 275 certified institutions 90 are stated to provide elementary education on the premises. Sixty-four of these are inspected by the Board of Education either under the arrangement of 1904 or as being public elementary schools or special schools receiving grants from the Board of Education; five are inspected by the Home Office as industrial schools, and one by the Admiralty. I am arranging with my right hon. Friend that the Board of Education will now undertake the educational inspection of the remaining 20 schools. 4. Of the remaining 185 certified institutions I am informed by the Local Government Board that 182 do not provide elementary education on the premises, and that three are of a special type—one being an idiot asylum certified by the Lunacy Commissioners, one an asylum for deaf and dumb females, the present inmates of which are adults, and one an asylum for indigent blind formerly certified by the Board of Education under the Blind and Deaf Act. These three are not under inspection by the Board of Education. 5. As regards the 182 certified institutions not providing elementary education on the premises, I am informed by the Local Government Board that in 143 of them all the children of school age attend public elementary schools, while in 37 cases all the inmates are over 14 years of age, and in two cases the institution is, in fact, a convalescent or holiday home. 6. I may add that the total number of Poor Law children, not counting those in receipt of out-relief, was at the beginning of this year about 66,600, counting all children under 16 years of age, not only those between three and 14. About 57,000 of these were in institutions under the direct control of boards of guardians and managers of Poor Law school districts; and about 9,600 were in other institutions, 8,100 being in certified institutions and 1,500 in uncertified institutions. These are round figures. 7. I am carefully considering all the practical questions which arise in connection with the general principle, on which my right hon. Friend and I are agreed, that the educational inspection of 2253W all schools or places of education attended by Poor Law children should be fully secured, and I am in communication with the President of the Local Government Board on the matter.