Secondary School Places

42.

Mr. Swingler
asked the Minister of Education how many secondary school places are now under construction; and what increase this represents on the number being constructed in October, 1951.

Mr. Pickthorn
On 30th April last there were 215,050 new secondary school places under construction. This is an increase of nearly 56 per cent. over the corresponding figure for 1st October, 1951.

Mr. Swingler
Although any increase of activity under the present Minister is an occasion for surprise and gratitude, is the hon. Gentleman aware that the local authorities are apprehensive about this situation because the Minister has refused to approve their plans of the basic minimum number of places to provide for increasing secondary school population? Will he, therefore, revise the school building programme this year to provide an adequate number of places and an adequate increase for the higher population?

Mr. Pickthorn
The reply to the last part of that supplementary question is that the assumption cannot be accepted and the answer, therefore, cannot be "yes." The answer to the earlier part is in the figures for contracts completed during the last three years: £251 million in 1951; £35·1 million in 1952; and £42·1 million in 1953.

Mr. Gower
If 10,000 separate bricks were laid on 10,000 separate sites—

Mr. Speaker
Order, order. This sounds much more like a question for the Minister of Works.

Mr. Gower
On a point of order. I thought the question I was asking was absolutely pertinent to this matter, Sir. May I complete my question?

Mr. Speaker
The hon. Gentleman's question was certainly hypothetical. He started with the word "If."