§ Mr. Willeyasked the Minister of Education whether he will make a statement on the operation of Part III of the Education Act, 1944.
§ Sir D. Eccles2,405 independent schools in England and 56 in Wales are finally registered under Section 70 of the Education Act, 1944, 76 English schools and I Welsh school, most of them recently opened, are provisionally registered. A further 1,449 English and 60 Welsh independent schools recognised as efficient are deemed to be registered.
Since Part III of the Education Act came into force on 30th September, 1957, I have served notices of complaint under Sections 71 (1) (a), (b) and (c) upon the proprietors of 52 independent schools. 83W 21 notices related to deficiencies in the premises or accommodation; 6 to deficiencies in the instruction provided in the school; and 25 were concerned both with the premises or accommodation and with the instruction.
In 21 of the 52 cases the proprietors remedied the matters complained of; in 2 they moved their schools to other premises; in 13 they closed their schools, or ceased to take pupils of compulsory school age; in 7 they failed to comply with the notice, and in these cases, and in one other, where I considered the matters of complaint to be irremediable, I made Orders under Section 72 (3) striking the schools off the register. 8 cases are still being considered.
I have also served 6 notices of complaint under Section 71 (1) (d) of the Act in respect of teachers whom I considered to be not proper persons to be teachers in any school. All 6 have been disqualified by Orders made under Section 72 of the Act from being teachers in any school, in 3 cases after appeal to an Independent Schools Tribunal.