asked the Secretary of State for Scotland whether it is the intention of the Department of Health for Scotland, under Public Assistance Circular No. 40, that a child under order of court should be committed to the care not of a public assistance committee but of an education authority; and will he take into consideration the fact that public assistance committees have arrangements under which children can be cared for and boarded out, whereas education committees have as a rule no other course open to them than to send children so committed to their care to an approved school?

In regard to the first part of the question, the Children and Young Persons (Scotland) Act, 1932, contains no provision authorising the committal of children to the care of public assistance committees. With reference to the second part, a child committed to the care of an education authority cannot be sent to an approved school without a further order by a court. Education authorities have power to board out children committed to their care under the Act. Sixteen of the authorities have intimated their willingness to undertake this duty, and six of them have already boarded out 35 children committed to their care.

Has the Lord Advocate any power to intervene in the case where a local authority is not carrying out the spirit of the circular?

I will convey the hon. Member's question to my light hon. Friend.