§ Sir JAMES YOXALLasked the President of the Board of Education if he has received information to the effect that on the occasion of a recent vacancy in the headmastership of the Townsend Road council school, Chesham, Buckinghamshire, the school managers decided to exclude from consideration those candidates for appointment who had obtained their certificates otherwise than by passing through a training college; that one of the managers said that this was an easy way of reducing the number to be considered; and that one of the managers stated that it was to save time and trouble to the sub-committee appointed to go through the applications that this resolution was carried; whether he is aware that this is one indirect result of a paragraph in Circular 709, issued by the Board of Education; and whether he can take further steps to withdraw, cancel, or otherwise undo the improper effect of the paragraph in question?
§ Mr. J. A. PEASEI have no information as regards this matter. The particular facts, however, as stated by the hon. Member, do not seem to me to warrant the conclusion which he draws from them. In reply to the last question, I have nothing to add to the answer which I gave to the hon. Member for North Islington on the 11th June last year.