Mr. De la Bèreasked the President of the Board of Education (1) whether he will now consider the case of those teachers who went away on evacuation duty on the 1st September, 1939, and who, under the present legislation, have received nothing towards the cost of keeping two homes going from the 1st September, 1939, to the 29th January, 1940;
(2) whether he will now consider the plight of the evacuated schoolmaster whose salary is between £250 and £400 per annum, who now finds himself burdened with the upkeep of two houses, in view of the fact that the Treasury allowance which has now been granted to these teachers does not adequately meet the additional cost of their increased commitments; and, as these allowances have to be claimed, can he do something to expedite the payment of these claims in view of the many cases of claims being unpaid and outstanding over a period of months?
§ Mr. RamsbothamThe arrangements for granting allowances to evacuated teachers were drawn up after consultation with representatives of the teachers so as 843W to correspond generally with those applicable to evacuated civil servants, and the date from which the allowances became payable was an integral part of such arrangements. All circumstances were taken into account and I cannot undertake to reopen the matter. The payments to the teachers are made, on the Government's behalf, by local education authorities and governing bodies who have in the first place to assess the sums payable, sometimes in conditions of considerable difficulty. I have no reason to think that in general avoidable delays are occurring, but if any particular cases of delay are brought to my notice I will see whether it is possible to do anything to expedite them.