§ Sir C. TREVELYANasked the President of the Board of Education why the Board have recently insisted on certain local education authorities, against their wishes, putting windows into their schools admitting direct sunlight; and whether, in view of the difference of expert opinion in the matter, he will allow local authorities discretion to experiment in this relatively small problem of school planning.
§ Lord E. PERCYThe Authorities in question proposed to erect premises into which direct sunlight could never penetrate. Since, by the use of a blind, it will still be possible to exclude direct sunlight when desired, I do not think that there has been any unreasonable interference with the Authorities' discretion. Experiment is good and, as the right hon. Member must be aware, the rigidity of the Board's building regulations has been very greatly relaxed during the last three years; but the essence of an experiment is that it may fail and the experimenter should be careful to leave a way open for retracing his steps.