§ Captain WATERHOUSEasked the President of the Board of Education which local education authorities have passed by-laws enforcing attendance in elementary schools to the age of 15, with exemptions and without exemptions, respectively, stating in each case the number of children in average attendance and the number of exemptions granted?
§ Sir C. TREVELYANThe local education authorities for Bath, Caernarvonshire, Cornwall, East Suffolk and Plymouth have adopted a by-law requiring attendance at school up to the age of 15, with exemptions. In the case of Bath the by-law was not adopted until' 31st March last; but in respect of the other areas the figures which are appended in regard to the year 1929–30 will, I think, give the hon. and gallant Member substantially the information for which he asks in the latter part .of his question.
870WThe figures are as follow:
Pupils who left public elementary schools, during the year 1929–30, for reasons other than further education, on or after reaching the end of the term in which they became 14. Local Education Authority. Aged under 14¼. Aged 14¼ and under 15. Aged 15 and over. Total. East Suffolk 830 931 301 2,062 Caernarvonshire. 134 254 531 919 Cornwall 1,665 1,304 384 3,353 Plymouth 360 745 685 1,790
§ Mr. CAMPBELLasked the President of the Board of Education the grounds on which he estimates that, in spite of the much larger number of children between 14 and 15 years of age who will be in the schools from 1934 to 1938, the sum of £2,500,000, estimated as the cost of educating that age group, will not be reached till 1938 onwards?
§ Sir C. TREVELYANThe rate of expenditure in the first years after the raising of the school-leaving age will depend, in the main, on such factors as the supply of teachers and the progress made with the provision of the necessary new accommodation. For this reason I have estimated that expenditure other than that on maintenance allowances will increase gradually to £2,500,000, and that there is not likely to be a temporary increase over this amount in the years to which the hon. Member refers.
§ Mr. CAMPBELLasked the President of the Board of Education what was his estimate of the number of children between the ages of 14 and 15 who will be in attendance at public elementary schools in each of the years 1931–82, 1932–33, 1933–34, 1935–3'6, 1936–37, 1937–38, and 1938–39?
§ Sir C. TREVELYANIf the school-leaving age were raised to 15, the number of children aged 14–15 estimated to be on the registers of public elementary schools is:
On 31st March, 1932 … 420,000 On 31st March, 1933 … 431,000 On 31st March, 1934 … 578,000 On 31st March, 1935 … 627,000 On 31st March, 1936 … 587,000 On 31st March, 1937 … 527,000 On 31st March, 1938 … 517,000 On 31st March, 1939 … 496,000