§ Mr. R MORRISONasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware that in connection with plans for a new girls' school at Grays, to which a hostel is attached, on 17th November the Essex County Council were notified that the Department would only approve the proposal if the charges made to the teachers residing in the hostel and the fees paid by the pupils would be sufficient to cover the cost of providing and conducting the hostel, so that no part of the cost would fall upon public funds, and that the chairman of the governors of the hostel has since reported that, arising out of an interview with the Department, he had ascertained that in calculating the grant it was not proposed to differentiate between educational purposes and the provision of the hostel; and whether he will state if the policy expressed in the original letter of the Department to the County Council has been modified?
§ Lord E. PERCYThe answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. At the interview to which the hon. Member refers, it was explained that the Board's letter of 17th November did not 2117W imply that the Board would not countenance a loan being raised in respect of the capital cost of the hostel, but that they would expect the charges made to the teachers residing in the hostel and the boarding fee normally charged to be fixed at economic rates sufficient to cover the proportion of the loan charges attributable to the hostel. The answer to the last part of the question is in the negative.