§ Mr. Liddallasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education whether he will call a conference of secondary school authorities and university examining boards and invite them to devise a plan to spread school summer holidays over a more elastic period to meet the persistent demands of parents, railway companies, and those who provide accommodation at holiday resorts, and to prevent the inconveniences caused by the school summer holidays being crowded into one and the same seven weeks?
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Mr. LindsayThe fixing of secondary school holidays is a matter which lies within the discretion of the local education authorities or governing bodies concerned. The question of a wider spread-over of school holidays over the summer months has been brought to my Department's attention on a number of occasions, and the conclusion which they have reached is that there is no evidence that there is any widespread demand for such a change, or that, if it were practicable, it would meet with any general welcome from parents, teachers or the public as a whole. I do not, therefore, see my way to adopt the course suggested by my hon. Friend.