REGULATIONS 
161 
against the vagaries of bureaucracy and the alleged im- 
potence of Ministers to control their Departmental 
officers, and is more convenient than the alternative 
procedure which requires Departmental regulations 
to be laid on the table of both Houses of Parliament, 
while they are sitting, for a month (or other specified 
period) before they come into force. It is true that 
regulations can be now made while Parliament is 
not sitting, but Departments are not usually so 
unwise as to take advantage of this to avoid probable 
Parliamentary criticism. Various devices have been 
suggested to check the bureaucratic arrogance, 
ineptitude or extravagance expressed in Depart- 
mental regulations, and the Board of Education has 
attracted its full share of such imaginings. The 
doctrine of ministerial responsibility has hitherto 
stood in the way of their translation into practical 
form. It is not easy to get over or get round that 
solid obstacle. On the other hand the Board has 
usually, to a greater extent than is commonly 
realised by its critics, been wise enough or prudent 
enough to seck advice and criticism from interested 
bodies or competent persons, whether Local 
Authorities, or teachers, or local officials or their 
Associations, or expert individuals, before embarking 
on important changes in their administrative regu- 
lations. There are, of course, occasions—and in 
recent years there have been several—when under 
stress of financial or political considerations Depart- 
mental decisions have to be made and action taken 
in circumstances which preclude previous consul- 
tation or restrict the time available for it, but 
ordinarily it is the Board’s practice to consult often