§ Mr. Gwynfor Evansasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science (1) in view of the fact that only 25 per cent. of the schoolchildren of Carmarthenshire and 44 per cent. of Welsh schoolchildren are being educated in post-war buildings, whereas 60 per cent. of the school population of England are educated in schools provided since the war, what plans he has to bring the Carmarthenshire and Welsh level up to the English level;
(2) in view of the fact that only 17 per cent. of the children attending the new Welsh medium schools are educated in school buildings provided since the war, whereas 60 per cent. of the school population of England is so educated, what plans he has to raise the Welsh level up to the English level.
§ Mr. CroslandIt is my intention that all school premises should be brought up to the present-day standards as quickly as resources which are available for school building will allow. In allocating these resources priority has to be given to providing new schools and extensions 171W to existing schools for children who would otherwise have no schools to go to, that is in areas of population growth and new housing. In Wales in general and in Carmarthenshire in particular there is considerably less demand in terms of this basic need for providing roofs over heads than there is in certain areas in England, and this is reflected in the proportion of children in new places.
The new Welsh medium schools do not in the great majority of cases reflect an overall increase in school population; consequently they cannot be given priority in allocations over schools required to meet basic needs. The Welsh medium schools are in the main small units, and local education authorities have found it possible to establish them in buildings which have become available as a result of reorganisation of school provision.