§ Sir J. POWERasked the Secretary of State for Scotland the estimated number of children that will be in attendance at public elementary schools under the existing law who will have exceeded their 14th birthday and not attained their 15th birthday at the beginning of 1931; if he can give an estimate of the number of children between those ages who will be in attendance at public and other secondary schools at the same date; and the total number of children between those ages who will not be attending any form of school?
Mr. W. ADAMSONThe number of pupils that, under the existing law, will be in attendance at State-aided primary and secondary schools in Scotland at the beginning of 1931, having passed their 14th birthday and not yet attained their 15th, is estimated to be 16,000. The statistics at my disposal do not enable me to give separate figures for the two classes of school. The number of pupils between 14 and 15 who at the same date will not be in attendance at any State-aided school is estimated to be approximately 65,000. I have no information that enables me to estimate what part of the last number would be in attendance at other than State-aided schools, but the number must be relatively small.