asked the Secretary of State for Education and Science what is the latest position with regard to the proposals for a scheme for the voluntary early retirement of teachers.

Proposals for voluntary early retirement of teachers on mugs were presented to all State schoolchildren for the Silver Jubilee of King George V and Queen Mary in 1935 and for the Coronation of King George VI in 1937, what presentation she envisages for children of school age to mark the Silver Jubilee of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.

It is her Majesty's express wish that there should be no undue expenditure in connection with her Silver Jubilee, and, as already announced, it will not be possible for the Government to make any additional special contribution towards the cost of events outside the central programme. My right hon. Friend is confident that, with these considerations in mind, local authorities will still find appropriate and imaginative ways of marking the occasion in their schools.