Orders of the Day — Education Bill

Part of the debate – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 22 June 1959.

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Captain Off:

It is for the existing primary schools. There may be a case for raising the grant from 50 per cent., but it would be interesting to know just how the figure of 75 per cent. was arrived at. What would be the case against a figure of 100 per cent.? The hon. Member for Southampton, Itchen (Dr. King) produced an argument against the figure of 100 per cent. At what point exactly, and by what criterion, are we to fix this figure in the future? The hon. Member for Abertillery prophesied that the time would come when a Minister would announce another rise. Where exactly is the line to be drawn in the future? It is that sort of consideration which lies behind a good deal of the disquiet among those who are unhappy about this Bill.

When we come to the entry into secondary education, there is more objection than to the raising of the grants in the primary field. There is a strong feeling that we are now to extend and perpetuate the dual system right through the whole scale of education, from the cradle to the university.