ABSTRACT
During the three years 1952-4 covered by this research, 562 girls came from thirty-one Counties and fifty-four County Boroughs. As we have seen in Chapter 2, since the Reformatory Acts of 1854, the central government has partially supported the Approved Schools. By the Childrens' Act of 1921 the proportion of contributions was settled as half from the local authorities and half from the State. The responsible Local Authority (usually that where the child is normally resident, but sometimes where the offence is committed or the circumstances leading to his committal arise) may ask the parents of a child in Approved School to contribute to the cost of maintenance, up to age 16. During 1954 the flat-rate contribution (fixed by the Secretary of State) paid by each Local Authority for a girl at The Shaw School was 10s. 3d. per day. Her total maintenance cost was therefore £1 0s. 6d. per day, the remainder being paid by the Exchequer to the School Managers.
