§ Mr. J. Griffithsasked the President of the Board of Education whether local education authorities in unspecified areas are empowered to proceed to provide shelters for children attending their schools; and what instructions have been sent to the local authorities in the matter?
§ Mr. RamsbothamThe answer to the first part of the Question is in the affirmative. As regards the second part, local education authorities were informed in the Board's Circular 1467, of which I am sending the hon. Member a copy, that the responsibility for determining the arrangements for protection of schoolchildren which are best suited to the circumstances of a particular locality or school are primarily matters for the authority, in consultation with the local A.R.P. authority. General advice has been issued by the Board from time to time for the assistance of local education authorities in deciding the measures which they should adopt in their areas.
§ Mr. Ammonasked the President of the Board of Education whether he will consider the lack of co-ordination between the Ministries of Health and Education as to the provision of air-raid shelter for evacuated children, with a view to remedying it?
§ Mr. RamsbothamI am not clear what the hon. Member has in mind, since the Ministry of Health are not in any way concerned with the question of air-raid shelter for evacuated schoolchildren. In reception areas evacuated children have precisely the same protection in the schools as local children. As I explained in reply to a Question by the hon. Member last week, the nature and extent of the protection, if any, at a particular school are primarily matters for the discretion of the local education authority in consultation with the local A.R.P. authority.