§ Mr. W. THORNEasked the President of the Board of Education whether he has received information that, at a town's, meeting, held in Barking, under the auspices of the local education committee, a resolution was unanimously passed urging the Government to allow the town to make full use of the Faircross special school which, by the orders of the Board of Education, is only open now to one-third of its capacity; and whether, in view of the fact that the resolution pointed out that the town is paying out of its rates their share of the full cost of building the school, only one-third of which it is now allowed to use, and that 196 children are suffering through their exclusion from the school and are in some cases liable to infect other children if attending the ordinary elementary schools, he will reconsider his decision and allow the school to be opened to its full capacity?
§ Mr. FISHERThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. I am not aware of any evidence that children who might attend this school, if the numbers were increased to the full extent allowed by the premises, are exposing other children in the ordinary schools which they attend to the risk of infection. The Faircross School is not certified, and there has never been any suggestion that it should be certified as a special school on the ground that the children who do or might attend it are liable to infect other children. Children who are liable to convey infection ought not to attend a special school, but should be sent to a sanatorium. For the reasons given in my answer to the hon. Member's question on this subject on the 27th February, I regret that I am unable to reconsider my decision at the present time.