asked the Minister of Health the nature of the arrangement whereby the proprietors of Dartington Hall, Devon, receive or have received a monetary grant out of public funds in respect of attention given to evacuated children; and whether the parents of the children, the Home Office, the Devon constabulary, the Board of Education or the local education authority were consulted before any such arrangement was concluded?

The position is that part of the premises at Dartington Hall have been placed by the trustees at the disposal of the local authority for evacuation purposes. These premises are at present being run as a hostel for evacuated children by local voluntary workers and staff seconded by the L.C.C. The proprietors of Dartington Hall are not in any way concerned in the management of the hostel and no grant is payable to them in respect of attention to the children. The second part of the Question does not therefore arise.

asked the Minister of Health whether, in view of the rise in the cost of living, he will reconsider the existing income limits which govern the contributions to be made by parents for the maintenance of their evacuated children, since the present scale is causing considerable hardship in certain cases?

I am not satisfied on the information before me that a reconsideration of the present scale of assessment is called for. Perhaps my hon. and gallant Friend would send me or the Secretary of State for Scotland particulars of the cases to which he refers.