§ Mr. Harold Macmillanasked the Parliamentary Secretary to the Board of Education the number of children of school age in Great Britain; the number under 11 years of age and the number over 11 years of age; how many children of each category are attending school during the present school term in evacuation, neutral and reception areas, respectively; how many in each category are expected to be attending school in the term beginning April, 1940; and how many children of school age in Great Britain are estimated tube not attending school at all?
Mr. LindsayFollowing is the information:
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ENGLAND AND WALES. I Number of Children on the Registers (latest figures available) Under 11 11 and over Total Elementary Schools (31st March, 1939) … … 3,297,082* 1,644,703 4,941,785 Secondary Schools on the grant list (1st Oct. 1938) 50,454 443,879 494,333 Totals … 3,347,536 2,088,582 5,436,118 * Includes 169,558 children under 5. These figures of course do not provide anything but a rough basis for comparison with the figures given in the following part of this answer.
II. A summary of the returns relating to school attendance of elementary and secondary school children in evacuation and neutral areas in England and Wales which were received from local education authorities at the beginning of January, 1940, is given in the table below, but information as to the respective number of children over and under 11 in each category is not available.
Type of Area. Attending School. Home Service Classes. Not receiving instruction. Elementary. Secondary. Elementary. Secondary. Elementary. Secondary. Evacuation* … 708,637 79,051 367,819 887 417,511 12,481 Neutral … 1,020,684 98,922 24,562 — 24,699 332 * Includes certain children in neutral parts of county areas containing both neutral and evacuation zones, the figures for which were not given separately. The remaining children are in the reception areas, but the position has been too fluid to make it possible to compile accurate statistics. Reports recently received from His Majesty's inspectors in those areas indicate that the great majority of the children are receiving full-time instruction in all but a few cases. It is not possible at present to forecast the number of children in each category who will be attending school in the term beginning April, 1940. For information relating to Scotland, I would refer my hon. Friend to the Secretary of State for Scotland.