§ Mr. Parkerasked the President of the Board of Education whether he is aware of the disquiet caused by the increase in juvenile delinquency in Essex; and whether he will press upon the county council the need for a greater provision of play centres in the industrial parts of the county?
§ Mr. ButlerThe attention of local education authorities was drawn to the problem of increased juvenile delinquency and to the methods to be adopted for prevention and treatment in a memorandum issued by my right hon. Friend the Home Secretary and my predecessor, a copy of which I am sending to the hon. Member. I am glad to say that the Essex local education authority are holding a series of local conferences, in which His Majesty's Inspector is taking part, to discuss the questions raised in the memorandum, but that so far they have no evidence that the problem is a serious one. They have prepared a scheme for play centres in the Dagenham district but the need for this arises from the employment of mothers rather than from delinquency in the children.