§ Mr. Liddallasked the Home Secretary whether he has considered the resolution passed by the city of Lincoln Education Committee in regard to the payment of grants in respect of air-raid precautions work for schools; and whether he will consider the appointment of a committee to inquire into and report on the understandings reached and the undertakings given in the negotiations between local authorities and the Home Office, the extent to which those understandings and the undertakings have been varied, by what authority and to what extent, and to report on the justification for such variation?
§ Sir J. AndersonI have considered the resolution to which my hon. Friend refers. I have examined very carefully the records of all the correspondence and consultations relating to the negotiations which took place in 1937 regarding the apportionment between the Exchequer and local rates of expenditure incurred by local authorities in carrying out the new duties laid upon them by the Air-Raid Precautions Act of that year, and I am fully satisfied that there is no foundation for the suggestion that the present rate of Exchequer grant for air-raid precautions in schools involves any variation or breach 1363W of any undertaking given, or understanding arrived at, during the course of those negotiations. I see no reason to hold any further inquiry of the kind now suggested