§ 46. Lieut.-Colonel Liptonasked the Minister of Education if he will give an assurance that, under his proposed new regulations, winners of State scholarships will get the full value of such scholarships without deductions based on parental means.
§ Sir D. EcclesNo, Sir. Under the 1944 Act I have to award State scholarship grants to students to enable them to go to the university without hardship to themselves or their parents.
§ Lieut.-Colonel LiptonIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the regulations as now operating promise considerable hardship to quite a number of parents? Will he not examine the matter again as sympathetically as he can, because it is surely inadvisable to penalise parents if their children are clever enough to win a State scholarship?
§ Sir D. EcclesI am considering both the methods by which parents' incomes are assessed and the rates of the maintenance grants which are to be paid, and I hope shortly to make a statement.
§ Mr. ChetwyndWould the right hon. Gentleman consider some way round the problem that arises in the case where a child wins a State scholarship but, because of the adequacy of the resources of his parents, is not awarded it and so loses the honour of winning it, while another child is at the same time deprived of a scholarship he needs?
§ Sir D. EcclesI am bound by the Act which, to put it shortly, obliges me to have a means test. So long as the Act is on the Statute Book, I must proceed by assessing the parents' incomes.
§ Dr. KingSurely the Minister would agree that under the Act the scale itself can be considered and that modifications of the scale might bring some measure of relief to people of the middle income group?
§ Sir D. EcclesThat is exactly what I am doing, and the hon. Gentleman will not have very long to wait.