§ Lord Denningasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they are aware that on 28th June 1987 the Church of England issued a directive to the Dioceses asserting that "the Church through Archbisop Temple gave Lord Butler at the time of the 1944 Education Act a firm undertaking … that the Church would recycle closing schools and the proceeds of sale thereon in the system"; whether that assertion was correct; and whether the Secretary of State, in making schemes for redundant schools, has authorised the recycling of the proceeds in this way.
§ Viscount DavidsonThe directive to which the noble Lord refers is an internal circular letter from the Board of Education of the General Synod of the Church of England reminding Diocesan Directors of Education of provisions governing the disposal of church schools. Such a document would not, as a matter of course, be brought to the attention of Her Majesty's Government. The precise terms of any undertaking given to Lord Butler at the time of the 1944 Education Act cannot be checked without disproportionate expense. Papers relating to the 1944 Act are available for public inspection at the Public Records Office, Kew, Richmond in Surrey. Schemes made under Section 86 of the 1944 Act, or, more recently, under Section 2 of the Education Act 1973, enable the proceeds of sale of closed schools to be recycled within the statutory system of public education.