Oral Answers to Questions — Education – in the House of Commons at 12:00 am on 20 October 1949.
Mr Philip Piratin
, Stepney Mile End
12:00,
20 October 1949
asked the Minister of Education what is the percentage of young people leaving school and going to university from secondary modern schools, secondary technical schools, local education authority maintained grammar schools and independent schools, respectively.
Mr George Tomlinson
, Farnworth
The proportion of pupils leaving maintained and assisted secondary grammar schools who proceeded to universities in 1947–48 was 6 per cent.: the proportion of those leaving direct grant schools was 9.5 per cent. As might be expected in view of the normal school leaving age, the percentage from secondary modern and technical schools was negligible. I have no comparable figures for independent schools.
Mr Philip Piratin
, Stepney Mile End
Is it not important that the Minister should try to get information about the percentage of children who leave independent schools and go to universities?
Mr George Tomlinson
, Farnworth
The proportion is still roughly what it used to be, but we hope to see changes.
Mrs. Manning:
Does the Minister think that the figures indicate the number of children who are capable of benefiting by a university education?
Mr George Tomlinson
, Farnworth
No, the figures do not relate to the number of children who actually go to universities; they are the number of children who go direct from school. It is fairly obvious that in those circumstances very few would go direct from the secondary modern schools, but many will probably go later on.
Ministers make up the Government and almost all are members of the House of Lords or the House of Commons. There are three main types of Minister. Departmental Ministers are in charge of Government Departments. The Government is divided into different Departments which have responsibilities for different areas. For example the Treasury is in charge of Government spending. Departmental Ministers in the Cabinet are generally called 'Secretary of State' but some have special titles such as Chancellor of the Exchequer. Ministers of State and Junior Ministers assist the ministers in charge of the department. They normally have responsibility for a particular area within the department and are sometimes given a title that reflects this - for example Minister of Transport.
