§ Mr. G. BARKERasked the President of the Board of Education if a protest has been received by his Department from the Local Education Committee of Abertillery against the proposal of the Board of Education to cut down the grants for the provision of meals; if he 1009W is aware that the rates amount to upwards of 30s. in the£ in this area as a result of the entire closing down of collieries in Blaina and the partial closing down of collieries in the Abertillery areas, and that this burden will be greatly aggravated if the grant in aid of the provision of meals is reduced; and whether, under these circumstances, he will give the Local Education Committee information as to the amount of the expenditure they may incur in 1922–23, and which the Board will recognise for the calculation of the grant?
§ Mr. FISHERThe Board have received the protest in question. I may refer the hon. Member to the answer which I gave on the 4th April to the hon. Member for Newcastle, North. I cannot admit the principle that in heavily rated areas it is legitimate to use the Provision of Meals Acts to relieve the poor rate. The Board hope to issue, in the course of a few days, a Circular to all local education authorities on the subject of the provision of meals, setting out in detail the facts for the country as a whole. Authorities will be invited to take all these facts into consideration, and subsequently to submit revised estimates to the Board for this Special Service for 1922–23. When the Board have received these revised estimates for the country as a whole they will inform each Authority whether the amount of their estimate is such as can be accepted for purposes of grant in view of the limit imposed by Parliament.