HC Deb 09 November 1944 vol 404 cc1512-4
10. Miss Rathbone

asked the Minister of Labour whether he will consider arranging that the grants available under the Government scheme for further education and training of those whose professional training has been interrupted by National Service should be available for such persons now employed in the N.F.S. but about to be released on grounds of redundancy, without requiring these persons to await general demobilisation.

Mr. Bevin

At present only men and women who have been discharged from their war service through disablement or on medical grounds are entitled to apply for awards under the Further Education and Training Scheme. An extension of these awards at the present time, to cases such as those mentioned by my hon. Friend, is a matter of some difficulty, particularly as regards the effect it might have on the opportunities likely to be available for others later on, but I have the matter under consideration in consultation with my right hon. Friends the Minister of Education and the Minister of Agriculture.

Miss Rathbone

Will my right hon. Friend remember that later on, when general demobilisation takes place, there will be people crowding into universities and other educational centres, and that if persons who have finished their training can be got out of the way, it will facilitate the training of demobilised persons at the end of the war?

Mr. Bevin

It does not quite work out like that. I cannot at the present moment release personnel to teach them. These two things, in the re-creation of university facilities, have to go together.

13. Mr. Edmund Harvey

asked the Minister of Education whether he has considered representations from a number of ex-Servicemen undergraduates of the University of Durham with regard to the delay in the award of further education and training grants to ex-Servicemen; and whether steps are being taken to expedite awards in future in order to avoid the inconvenience and hardship involved to students who have to commence their university courses without financial aid.

The Minister of Education (Mr. Butler)

I have received representations on this matter from seven students, and I am sending my hon. Friend a copy of my reply. I fully appreciate the need for avoiding hardship to applicants, and my hon. Friend will no doubt see, when he reads my reply, that every effort is made to obviate delay both in deciding applications and in making payments when an award has been made.

Mr. Harvey

Is my right hon. Friend aware that applications made in June last year were not finally dealt with by the Ministry until December; and should not delays like that be avoided in the future?

Mr. Butler

I would not like it to be assumed that there are avoidable delays in the administration of this scheme. The cases of these students are gone into with great care, in the interests of the students themselves, but I would not accept the suggestion that there is any avoidable delay.

Miss Rathbone

Would the right hon. Gentleman ask his people to have regard to the period when the university term begins, because if these matters are not dealt with some time near the beginning of the university session, decisions may be delayed for the whole year?

Mr. Butler

I will certainly see that nothing of that sort happens, because it would upset one of the objects of the scheme.