Mr. KINGasked the President of the Board of Education how many of the 22,627 pupils in the secondary schools of London are of elementary school age; what is the cost to the public, in rates and taxes, of each scholar in London elementary schools; what is the cost to the public of each scholar in London secondary schools; and what the additional cost is of educating in London secondary schools those scholars of elementary school age above the cost which would be involved if they continued in elementary schools?
§ Mr. RUNCIMANAs regards a considerable number of the secondary schools of London the Board do not possess any of the information asked for in the question. I am not sure what years my hon. Friend includes in his phrase "elementary school age," but I may say that on 1st October last there were a little over fourteen thousand pupils under fourteen years of age in those of the London Secondary Schools, in respect of which Grants were paid from the Board of Education. In regard to the comparisons suggested in the other paragraphs of the question concerning the cost of the education given in the two categories of schools respectively, no information can be given with any accuracy; moreover, if one is to avoid getting wholly misleading impressions from any attempts at comparative figures, regard must be had to the differences in curricula, staff, size of classes, size of schools, in each case. But it may, perhaps, be said that the nearest figure that can safely be given, as an average, in reply to the second paragraph of the question would be about £5, and the nearest figure for the third para-1558W graph somewhere between £14 and £18, including, of course, in both cases expenditure met from fees (which must necessarily be included for my hon. Friend's purposes in his fourth paragraph), but not including administration or building charges. These figures, however, are only rough estimates.