ABSTRACT
As every schoolboy knows, Rutland with a mere 25,000 population is England's smallest county, and its survival as a separate administrative county has for long been regarded as the classic example of the obsolete character of a present structure. Rutland is sparsely populated throughout; it has only two small towns, Oakham and Uppingham; and people go to Leicester when they need to use a major shopping or service centre. Other local education authorities provide all the grammar school places and nearly all the further education for Rutland's pupils, specialist advice about education, the youth employment service, and facilities for handicapped children. The Rutland County Council obtains from other local authorities all the reception and residential accommodation it needs for its children other than foster homes; nearly all the facilities required for the blind, deaf and physically handicapped, and almost all the mental health service.
